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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=8lr38z9OVNo

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Good evening everybody. It is Thursday, June 18th. It is the Citywide Council on Special Education's June meeting, the last meeting of this school year. So for all the students and families, congratulations. You're almost through

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it. One week to go in in a day. So congratulations. Um it's a eventful day in the city with uh the the Knicks parade finishing up a few hours ago here. still quite a bit of confetti and uh everything around this building, but

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uh h happy for for the celebrations to happen and certainly happy for the city. Um it's also very eventful day as we saw nationwide as we had the special education office moved out of the department of education

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office of civil rights for department of education also moved out of department of education into the justice department. So quite an interesting uh week we'll say from an education perspective. Um let's start off with interpretation.

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So, Mandarin, could you kick it off please and introduce your service and please post in the chat the way for our community members to reach you? Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. ID. I

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announcement has done. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Spanish interpreters, could you please introduce your service and also post in the chat the ways our community members can reach you? Thank you. >> Sure. Um, this is a Spanish introduction.

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do ID quadro stress. Um, so information is posted on the chat box. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Rose, can we

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do Rose? Roll call, please. >> Good evening, everyone. It's roll call. Francesca is excused. Dr. Sai Cindy >> Joanne >> present.

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>> Heather is excused. Mark >> present. >> Ron is excused. Maggie >> present. Susie Irene is excused.

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We do not have a quorum. No, we do not have quorum. That being said, we can still move forward with the presentation. And we do have another member appointed by the PA, Anita. Congratulations and welcome.

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>> Congratulations. >> Let's get to work. Let's get to work. Absolutely. Thank you. And a reminder, you'll need to hold down the button when you want to speak, Anita. Okay.

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So, we'll give Anita a moment to to just uh let everyone know about her self. So, you got a moment. Go ahead. >> Good evening, everyone. My name is Anita Ralph. I'm happy to be here. I've been uh involved with the CCSE

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for a few years. Um took a hiatus, but here I am. And finally, after six months, I I get to be in the position and I'm here. I humbly accept and I'm here to serve you. Um I have a

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background in advocacy mostly in healthc care. That's my background. Um but I als and I also have a uh background in um marketing and public relations um in the in the industries of healthcare um

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healthcare business that is as well as um lifestyle and sports. So um yeah so I actually see so much potential. I I think uh the CC me SE

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members at the current time are amazing and I just want to make sure that we are working in a more integrated fashion and we're celebrating all the wins of the CCSE. Thank you.

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>> Okay, and congratulations. Welcome. All right, we've got our presentation tonight. Um it's it's actually pretty special one. Um, there's a lot of talk out there right now about teched and screen time and

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what what should be allowed, what should not be allowed. I think this is where everything gets blurred and there's a lot of challenges that happen and things get looped in to a bigger picture. And the challenge is we're going to we're

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going to hear from the assisted technology team. And this is a team that gives students access to the material. This is a team that actually makes it so we have equity in our schools and gives our our students really the ability to to do

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what they're meant to do, which is learn and communicate and and interact. And so we've got to be very careful when we talk about a district trying to ban screen time and we shouldn't have teched in schools. We shouldn't be using devices.

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There are a group of students that is their lifeline. It is so critical to them to be able to function in our schools. And I cannot think of a better group than the assisted technology team to to end this uh school year because they

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bring so much good to our students who really do need it to be able to function at the level and reach the abilities that they can reach. And so was really thrilled to have the assist of technology team here to to talk to us

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tonight and to help us understand how critical AT and technology can be for our students and and get an update on on where we're at in the AT world. So pass over to our our DOE AT team and and our office special education. Thank you.

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>> Wow, Mark, what an intro. Uh Mark Gonzalez, thank you so much for that. Really appreciate it. Um good evening. Thank you to CCSE for having us to discuss the importance of assistive technology. Um next slide.

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My name is uh David Kuroka, the co-director of assisted technology for New York City public schools. We also have with with us two of our wonderful AT supervisors, Mary Chris and Lindsay. you want to

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introduce yourselves to the group? >> Sure, David. Hi everyone. Uh my name is Mary Chris Formos Santos. I'm one of the assistant technology supervisors. Thank you for the opportunity to share assistive technology toolkit with you.

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Good evening. I'm Lindsay Huntley. I am the AAC supervisor for the central assisted technology team and I'm so honored to be here tonight. Thank you. Next slide. So during this presentation we will

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cover uh who we are and our mission provide an overview of assistive technology uh review the AT consideration to uh recommendation process. We will introduce our AT toolkit and some of our

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highly recommended tools that we use to support students. Um, we will also provide information on some of our resources and we will have some time in the end for a Q&A.

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Next slide. So, who are we? We are the central AT team. Um, some know us as the CAT team. So, throughout this presentation, if I use uh the word CAT, I'm referring to the central assisted technology team.

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Our main mission is to ensure students with disabilities receive appropriate assisted technology supports so that they could thrive in school. We serve students in all New York City public school uh settings including charter

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home and hospital instructional settings. Uh we have two office locations, one in Queens Plaza North and the other at uh 4001st Avenue in Manhattan where I actually sit.

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Next slide. So it's really important for us to define what is assisted technology or AT. Um the definition according to IDA which is a federal law that supports

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students with disabilities and I'll read this. It's any item piece of equipment or product system whether acquired commercially off the shelf modified or customized that is used to increase

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maintain or improve functional capabilities of a person with the disability. And I want us to focus on um the words modified or customized. For example, uh often what may just look

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like say a laptop or a tablet is modified or customized for the specific needs of a student which will then make it assisted technology. Next slide.

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So, let's take some time and watch and listen to um Jan who's a New York City public su New York City public school student and get his perspective on the benefit of technology and assisted technology and how it can help students

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with learning. Um Jan will also describe the benefits of a tool that we'll discuss later uh during a demo called read and write. Um do take some some time to provide some feedback and some observations on the chat.

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>> Very short paragraph that explains the central idea of the article. Use two details from the article to support. >> Okay, >> this is the article. So basically, usually what I do is I go here,

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>> work on our world, even thousands of years later, we can still see their influence. >> My digital notebook. >> Mhm. >> And then they every day they post a new one for

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the day and then you would work instead of on paper what they have to do. You would write it here and the lesson would be like this on computer. >> They post the homework of the day,

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>> right? >> And then math and then just post it at the end of the day. And when I know when I have homework, I just check my home room class and I would see what I have and I'll do it.

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He's like from a foreign country. >> What I would do is I would try to tell him that it's going to help him because here if you see you can go the voice typing too and then you can check different languages

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>> and if they don't know how to speak English they can choose one of these. >> Mhm. >> And they can write it there and then you could leave here and then go to translations. and you would copy and paste everything

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and translate it. But if they like English speaker, I would tell them I mean if if like you don't you don't really like writing and your handwriting isn't that good and why not use computer

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because it would help you better and then you would be able to succeed more and it's more of the future. So when you use computers more when you're working, it's going to help you. When I'm writing, like I it's my handwriting keeps like getting wrong and I got to

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erase and it usually gets spaced in one place and you can't read that well. >> And it also helps here because sometimes I can't spell the words that are hard. >> So I could just go here and then go to like speech to text.

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>> Okay. And then I would say the word that I don't know. 5 this like the wind was flying and the Today it was a sunny day outside. It was relaxing, calm, and beautiful.

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Thank you. We hope you all got as much out of that uh video as we do. I mean, he goes through so many different aspects of uh assisted technology, accessibility features like text to speech, speech to text, translation. I mean, talk about empowerment from u from

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a student. Um Shan is a superstar. Next slide. So, we want to highlight some AT successes that we've had during this school year. Um, we've expanded access to AT evaluations during after school

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sessions, weekend academy, uh, and we'll be conducting summers. We've strengthened um, school ba school-based capacity for staff so they can consider and make assisted technology recommendations at the school level. We've increased training offerings

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specifically for parents during weekend academy. Uh we've developed a onepage getting started guide to support schools and families with alternative and augmentative communication devices when

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they are sent to schools. Lindsay will be reviewing this onement later during the presentation. Um, we showcased innovative AT practices during the inclusion summit that took place this April. That was a lot of fun. And today,

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um, we're excited to announce that we are preparing for our assisted technology expo which will take place in January of 2027. We're really excited about that. Um, and if you've been to our AT Expos in the past, they're just

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an incredible opportunity to share best practices related to AT and um, showcase student achievement with AT. Uh, and as soon as we have more concrete information, we will definitely share with this group.

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Next slide. So, let's talk a little bit about the AT consideration to referral to actual recommendations. Um, there's a lot in here, so I'm going to try to take this slow. The AT consideration process.

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It involves reviewing the needs of students with disabilities and whether they require AT support to access learning. And according to IDA, um this needs to happen at least at

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every IEP team meeting and it should be a collaborative process with the family. So as part of this consideration process, if the IEP team determines assisted technology may be needed, they

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have two tracks or options. if they have the capacity to consider and determine the appropriate solutions for students. This can be done at the school level which expedites the process. As we touched upon in the previous slide, our

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office has conducted numerous trainings in the last few years to support these track one requests. Now for track two, the IEP team determines a student may need assist of technology and they need assistance from

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the s from the central assisted technology team. The IEP team will then initiate the requests for assistance and the re-evaluation procedures and then the AT team will will schedule the evaluation and coordinate with the

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IP team on the evaluation process. Next slide. So how can families support this process? Number one, um sharing insights about your child's strengths and needs

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to support the consideration process. So questions like, are they struggling with homework? Are they reporting issues with handwriting or reading their own work? For math, are they having challenges lining up numbers?

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When they attempt to read a passage, can they recall information? These are some examples that might indicate a need for AT and should be shared with school teams as part of that consideration process. Families can also um participate in the

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actual AT evaluation to learn about all the possible tools and solutions. And once AT is in place, stay engaged. Request trainings from your school or the AT team.

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Next slide. So, how do the a how does the AT become part of your child's supports? The IEP team schedules a meeting to review the AT evaluation findings and the suggested equipment recommendation.

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It's very important that this is a collaborative process involving all IEP team members, the family, and even the student. Um, if the IEP team agrees with the recommendations, the supports will then be added to the

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IEP. The administrator of special education will then order the equipment from the CAT team. And as we discussed, once at is in place, training and support can be

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requested by the family and the school. Next slide. We're gonna pivot to our highly recommended assisted technology tools and g introduce Mary Chris again. >> All right. Thanks so much David.

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>> Okay. So this slide provides a glimpse into our assistive technology toolkit. This is not an exhaustive list. Assist of technology devices is a continuum as you can see. Um it ranges uh this the

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range spans from light to mid to high-tech. Litec tools are simple. They require little maintenance and involve limited or no electronics. Examples include pencil grips, adaptive

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paper, colored overlays, you see postits there, slant boards. Midte devices bridge the gap between simple tools and complex systems typically requiring some power some power source or battery such

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as timers, reading or scanning pens. Now our high-tech devices are more sophisticated and often require more training to use effectively. This includes computers or laptops. Although I have to say some of our kids

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can teach us technology, right? Touchscreen tablets are included like iPads, various software to support academics, ebook readers, and adaptive switches or keyboards. Our software includes laptop programs that gets

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installed into um Windows or Mac computers, Chrome extensions tailored for our Google for education environment and iPad apps. We collaborate with the IIT to manage and deploy these tools

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securely using a centralized MDM or mobile device management platform. Excuse my voice, everyone. Okay, our most commonly recommended reading supports are here.

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Read and write, Snap Type Pro, Orbit Note, and Voice Stream Reader. Read and Write for laptops is our most comprehensive literacy tool. It supports reading through text to speech or read

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aloud word translation and dictionaries including picture dictionaries which are graphic representations of the word. It also offers writing supports such as speech to text and word prediction and

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even helps with study skills using highlighters. I'll speak more about the writing features on the next slide. Voiceream Reader for iPads is our most popular app for accessing digital books. If your student has a print-based

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disability, this tool is important for giving them access to the same books as their peers in a digital format. Snap Type Pro 2 for iPads makes worksheets accessible for students who struggle with handwriting.

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It allows them to well allows them to take a picture of printed worksheets or their teachers can share the worksheets via Google Classroom or Google Drive. They can use read aloud. They can also type or speak

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their answers directly into the document. Orbit note for laptops is the PDF partner to read and write. It allows students to annotate and interact with static PDF worksheets while keeping

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access to familiar read and write features like reading aloud and vocabulary support. So ultimately these tools handle the mechanics of decoding or formatting so

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that our students can redirect their energy towards what truly matters which is analyzing ideas and engaging with the curriculum. When students have a print-based disability, accessing grade level text

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requires accessible educational materials or AEM. We want to ensure that our students have the same access to literature and curriculum as their peers in a format that works for them. Additionally, we

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want to highlight that not all materials come from these libraries. Some of the digital uh resources our students use are actually from the curriculum or teacher created specifically adapted to ensure that they can engage with the

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lesson. Writing. Writing can be a significant hurdle for many students. Whether they struggle with the actual handwriting, spelling vocabulary organization,

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or simply getting their ideas onto paper. These writing tools reduce the cognitive load and allows our students to focus on expressing their thoughts independently. Read and write is our primary literacy

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tool and it supports writing pro the writing process with word prediction. It has the best word prediction has co-writer along with speech to text or dictation spellchecking and word translation to over 90

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languages. It also integrates seamlessly with orbit note for annotating PDF assignments. So if an assignment is given in a PDF format, the students can access it. Cami transforms static worksheets into interactive digital

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documents, allowing students to type, draw or annotate directly on assignments. Super easy. Lucid chart helps students create visual flowcharts and mind maps. We have the Lucid Education or version of Lucid

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Chart. They turn abstract ideas into a structured format that deepens their understanding and in turn helps them organize their thoughts. Clicker Writer is designed for our emergent writers.

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It uses speech feedback and picture supports, contextbased word prediction. It also has spell checker and topic specific word banks. It works on early writing skills like custom sentence or connect sets and a

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mind mapping clickerboard. It also is incredibly flexible with options for switch access and eye gaze integration for our for our eye gaze users. Makes um accessibility for students really easy.

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All right, we move on to math. We recognize that students face barriers here just as they do in reading and writing. Whether it's handwriting legibility, keeping numbers aligned, graphing, or the linguistic challenge of breaking

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down word problems. Many of the literacy tools we've already discussed like read and write are essential here. They can read word problems aloud to help with comprehension, ensuring that the language of the problem doesn't block the student from solving the math.

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Right? Mod math is one of our top tools. It provides a digital graph paper interface. So for students who struggle with fine motor skills or handwriting, it keeps the numbers perfectly aligned on the screen so that they can solve it.

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A math learning center. These are web apps that serve as digital manipulative. So if a student cannot physically manipulate math tools, they can do it digitally. It gives students a concrete visual way to

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understand abstract operations and that's necessary for math. Math Learning Center apps are accessible on both iPads and laptops. Geogebra for geometry and algebra's favorite subject. This instructional

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tool has built-in accessibility features allowing students to interact with shapes and equations dynamically. The math assistant on one note is special because it is an instructional tools. What it does is that it supports

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by helping students format handwritten math and and offering the step-by-step guidance and to help them to learn the process behind the solution. we move on to executive functions. So,

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students with executive functioning issues or difficulties struggle with working memory, flexible thinking, and self-regulation. Students may require additional tools to support their executive function skills in order to complete their work

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independently. Apple Notes, my personal favorite, is a versatile option for those in the Apple devices such as iPads and Macs. So, it's basically a place for students to put in

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their ideas, give themselves notes or reminders. You can also share the note with someone else. So, family members, students can share it with their parents and vice versa.

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Google Keep is the Google version of Apple notes. It's available on um iPads as well and very handy uh Chrome extension for saving web content, setting reminders, and even keeping screenshots or pictures.

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The reminder app keeps track of tasks, of course, reminder lists, and allows for alerts in an effective way to stay on track. The Pomodoro timer. For those who use the Pomodoro technique, which is working

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in timed intervals with short breaks, this web-based tool is excellent for time management. And last but not the least, the time timer, which is a midte device. It provides a clear visual representation

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of passing time, which can be very helpful for visualizing how much of a work block remains. for our students with disabilities who are also English language learners. We need to bridge the academic barrier and

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the language barrier. Right? So our goal is to ensure that language proficiency never prevents your child from demonstrating what they know or engaging in the curriculum. Read and write.

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Beyond its reading and writing support, its translation features are robust, allowing students to translate text and access dictionaries in their home language. Easy spelling aid is a simple app where the student dictates the word and it

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gets transcribed with uh definition support. We also utilize a range of general translation apps from Microsoft, Apple, and Google that work across platforms and the web to support your child in real time.

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For English language and multil- language learners with disabilities, assisted technology supports participation in grade level content and it does not deliver ENL. So, I wanted to emphasize that it does not deliver or

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replace ENL or bilingual instruction or special education services. All right. Now, I'm going to demonstrate one of our tools, read and write feature. I'm going to just move some of these

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out of the way. Okay. Okay. So, how does your student get I'm going to demonstrate a homework sample here. How does your student get homework through Google Classroom most of the time, right? Okay. So, I'm a student. I'm going to open up my homework for

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today. I'm in district two, for example. I use W within Wisdom. My teacher just gave me this lesson and the instruction is students to read the brief second paragraph on page 136 and identify

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unfamiliar words. So my job is to read the text and identify words that are unfamiliar to me. So I'm going to pull up my read and write which is up top. Okay. And I'm going to

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read the text. If I have a print-based disability and I cannot read the text on my own, I have my play button here to read the text for me. >> But Poseidon wasn't sleeping. He was filled with a black and terrible rage

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when he saw Adysius arriving back in Ithaca with more treasure than ever before. >> Okay, for example, I needed to hear that again for comprehension. I can replay it. I can put my cursor anywhere

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to replay it. >> He was filled with a black and terrible rage. >> Okay, if there's a word that I'm not familiar with, which is actually part of the assignment, right? Like mockery, I

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can highlight the words just like what my teacher told me to do. Okay, I can also find out the definition of the word by highlighting going to my dictionary.

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When this happens, let's refresh. That's a good troubleshooting method. Okay, so we're going to do mockery. I'm going to clear it out.

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Okay. >> Mockery. >> Okay. Let's try this. You stop sharing. I'll reshare. This was working a second ago. Okay. I don't know what's going on, but as you

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saw on here, I literally just did this and it was working. So, if this happens, refresh the text. We're going to move on to the next the next task which is highlighting all

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of the text that is not familiar to the student. Okay. And then the next goal or the task is to write your response. So you can use the

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prediction and dictation. So this the teacher being this as a Google doc can prompt the student by adding comments. All right. So this is the prompt. Write your response. You can use the

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prediction or dictation because the teacher recognizes that the student has trouble with spelling or um typing or putting their thoughts on paper. So they can use dictation by turning on

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dictation. And from here on everything that comes out of the student's mouth gets transcribed onto the text. Okay, maybe it's just slow. For prediction, we turn on the word prediction.

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And then word prediction is basically when you start typing a text or a word, it tries to predict the word that you want to type. So let's say I'm going to type mockery.

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So I just type the first three letters of the word and then it um started to predict mockery. if the student requires um auditory feedback. So let's say they

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can't decode the list of text or the predicted text. What you can do is you can just hover your cursor over to the words >> mockery. Mockazuma >> mockery. >> I want mockery. Okay. And then it will

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read it out loud for you. Okay. So that is that is a read and write. I'm going to pass on the mic over to Lindsay. Lindsay, are you going to share your screen or you want

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me to continue? >> I can share. >> Okay. I'm sharing. Sorry, I just had to go to the right slide because I'm also going to be showing my iPad some apps. Okay, so we're gonna

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talk about AAC programs and applications. I always love to show this photo because it's a stock photo of our former President Barack Obama and in it you can see it's an inclusive classroom and there is a student using a speech

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generating device. So I usually when it's an interactive audience I ask what do you see that a speech language pathologist would love and it is the speech generating device. So what is augmentative and alternative

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communication and includes all forms of communication other than oral speech used to express thoughts, needs, wants and ideas. And it can be a variety of things. It can be a communication board. It can be a picture

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exchange communication system. It can be an electronic device such as a static display speech generating um device like the Go Talk that you see here where you can touch buttons and the it will speak all the way up to our high-tech devices

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like our iPads or our eye gaze devices. And there's a variety of different um students that use AAC. It can be individuals with speech or language impairments. Some of the conditions can be um due to autism, cerebral palsy. It

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can even be due to decreased speech intelligibility if they have articulation um disorders or they have traumatic brain injury. Uh sometimes we even have uh recommended speech generating devices for students

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have that have selective mutism and it can go either way if they are going to decide to use the device. I'm going to play a video. I have to put it in presentation mode to play the video. It's just takes a second.

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Mary Chris, I may have to have you share. It's not buffering the video. >> It's all right. >> You don't see it. Correct. Didn't come up. Let me try one more time. >> No, not yet. I could I could try it. Let me know.

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>> Give it one more second. Did it go? >> Okay. >> Yes. at least technology is slow when you Oh, you're gonna have to do it because I'm not. >> Sorry about that. >> Okay, here we go.

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Mat one. Come on. >> So in that video you saw a variety of communication tools. We had uh you know low tech, midte and high-tech. Let me share my screen again. So because I'm

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going to try to show you some of these tools. Okay. So, these are uh low tech communication board resources that are available. So, each of the AAC apps that we use, they all have free printable boards. So, it's

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always important, especially if you have a child that uses augmentative and alternative communication. Sometimes technology fails us. You know, the battery may die or, you know, they may crack the screen by accident or it

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glitches. You always want to have a low tech board to correlate just in case. So, we suggest that families have access to the low tech boards that correlate with the various AAC apps. Another free resource that you families

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can have is Project Core. And these are variety of communication boards that were made in conjunction with a grant um from the US Department of Education. And you do not need any AAC software. They're all free printable core boards

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that you can have and they come with symbol stick icons or mayor Johnson symbols and they can be in locations from 4 to 36. This is our most uh these are the most communication apps the most ones that we

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use and we there's a variety of them. There's proloqu TD enterprise flexbee go talk now plus there's another proloqu one's motor planning and one is u sentence building where it moves to

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different categories and one with the motor planning for proloqu prolo excuse me it's just motor planning but I'm going to show you a really cool app that we uh started using a couple years ago called flexe So what is unique about flexeek is it is

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web- based. So it is both an iOS app and it is you can use it on anything. You can use it on a Chromebook. Can every let me refresh it. My technology. Okay. You can use it on a Chromebook. You can use it on a MacBook.

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You can use it on a PC, you can use it as an iOS app. And what's really cool about this app, it's available in 25 plus languages. So if I use the app and I want to have it translated from English to Spanish, I can do English on

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one side and it will translate to Spanish on the other side. So you see it's translating into Spanish. I can also translate it into a variety of languages. So this is really good for our students that are

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multilingual. So not only does Flex Speak have an AAC app, it also has visual supports. So, if I go to studio. Oh my god, it's a little lagging. >> The Wi-Fi. I always >> I know the Wi-Fi.

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>> Ah, there it goes. Okay. So, if I wanted to create a new project, I'm going to let's say I name it solar system. And this uses AI properties. So, you can make quick communication boards. create a

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so then if I want to search the visuals if I want to put sun, moon, stars, mercury, h I can't spell right now,

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etc. If I listed all the planets and then I can even put an IEP goal to correlate it over here to help uh generate suggestions. So if I put an IEP goal here

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and I want to create a visual and I want it to be 16. I want symbol sticks. I can choose what language, what symbols. So I can use the default symbol sticks or Google images. I can select my language and I'm going to press generate

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shouldn't when I just did this before. It did let me try it one more time. It did all of the solar systems. Let me put it here. Maybe it's because it defaulted to Here we go. So then I can select all add 16 and do you see how quickly it made

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that board? So this is something our teachers can use to help our students that need visual supports during not only for our non-speaking kids but for any kid. So you know if they're doing speech and language therapy they can use

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this to you know work on articulation words. If we're working with a non-speaking kid who has an AAC device we can have visual supports to correlate to the curriculum and it does it pretty quickly. So again, you can just list the

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vocabulary words that you want or the topic and it will generate a quick communication board in a variety of locations. And I can also change the language quickly. Here's Albanian. Here is Arabic.

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So it's pretty special that how unique and fast we can do this. Lindsay. So, >> yes, >> thank you. I just um because we just want to leave some time um for Q&A. Maybe maybe just finish up with this

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this this great little >> getting started resources. Right. So, this is something that David mentioned earlier that we're sending out with all of our AAC devices. It's a getting started with AAC and it is translated into all the languages um that are

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required by New York City Public School. So, here is it in Arabic. Don't switch. Oh my god, my internet's so slow. I'm sorry. Point is, we have it translated in all the languages, but this is what it looks

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like in English. >> Thank you, Lindsay. So, this document is again, it's going out with every single um communication system that we send out for um students. And as Lindsay was saying, it's it's just a getting started guide. Um

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and also this there's there's a link to um the QR code where we have >> the QR code over here, >> getting started videos. We'll link to videos that it's a playlist which will show a family or a parent where to get started no matter which type of AAC

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application you have how to start working with your child at home. >> Thank you, Lindsay. >> Here are resources at and AAC Google support site. We have a CAT team YouTube channel with short little screencasts.

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And we have the welcome to AAC YouTube videos which are hyperl through the QR code. And if you have any questions, you can always email us at cat team at schools. For scheduling questions, we have our scheduling email. And for tech

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support, that is our tech support email. And now I will go end this so we can have questions. >> Okay. >> Thank you, CAT team. Appreciate it. Um there's some chat questions in the chat. we'll start with and then we'll open up for council members and then the public

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after. >> Um in the chat um question was what is the average wait time for an AT evaluation currently? Um, you know, I would say that we try our best to complete all the evaluations within the

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appropriate timeline, which is 60 days, including the um, you know, the procurement of the equipment team. Um, we're doing our best to stay within those timelines. Thank you. Next question was, how many

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times does the IEP team disagree with the AT evaluation recommendations? Not often, I have to say. Um, but in the event that something happens between the evaluation and the IEP team meeting, um,

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there could be some additional information that has come up. Um, and we're always available to support. Um, even if there's new information or, you know, there could be something that was recommended, you know, a MacBook versus

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a Chromebook. Sometimes there's a disagreement there. Um, and we'll try our best to do a follow-up to support the IB team as much as possible. >> Thank you. Next question was, how many schools engage parents in using these tools to support learning at home or

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during vacation breaks and how frequently are they covered throughout the school year? >> Um, I would say we have ongoing trainings for schools. Um, I would have to get sort of like a a frequency for you, but I would just say

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right off the top, we we do quite a few trainings for schools and we do get a lot of reach out from from schools um on different types of tools that they can use for their students. >> Okay. And David, with that, for a family member or for either the parent or the

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student or parent guardian or the student, how can they get training? What's the email or who should they reach out to for training if they need it? um they can reach out to atte.nyc.gov and if they speak to the school staff um

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there's a sort of a training link that uh is on our SharePoint site um that schools can also reach out to us. >> Great. Thank you. I think that's all the questions I see. Um, we'll open up to council members and

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then public. Um, any council members with any questions? Anita, go ahead. Please hold down the the uh button. >> I have a few questions. >> Hold on. I need let me take let me take some notes.

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>> I've been doing the same. This has been a wonderful evening. Um, okay. So, my questions are how receptive are the different the different um school uh

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environments? Um, I do find just within my own experience as a special needs uh advocate etc. that schools are not always receptive. For example, uh a recent student at Success Academy

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um charter school, they have their own Chromebook devices and so this would involve Chromebook extensions. Um do you mind sharing how it's been for you, your experience wise,

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like how receptive are they? Do you have any advice for us as the CCSE to help bring awareness? >> I mean, the first thing I would say, and I'm sure Mayor Chris and Lindsay would concur, is that if you need help

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educating schools on the benefits of assisted technology, our team is here to assist. We have about 120 evaluators who conduct evaluations, but they don't only do evaluations, they do training and implementation. So, and and we're across

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all five burrows. So, if there's if there's a a training that we can do for school staff, um for an individual, for a group of teachers, we do this quite often. So if you need some help um in promoting the importance of assisted

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technology, you can lean on us for this. >> All right. And um are you planning I know that the uft has been creating a lot of teacher resource centers which um mainly target a lot of the special needs >> uh needs such as tools and such as

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graphic organizers and all that. Will will you be potentially linking up with these teacher centers because these are wonderful avenues that have really been have blossomed over the past three years. >> Just a suggestion.

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>> It's a great suggestion. Um I'm getting my years a little mixed up, but we have definitely collaborated with the uft um in different trainings. Mary Chris Lindsay. I don't remember if it was this year or last year that we had a

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series of trainings with the uft. Um but certainly uh we look forward to collaborating with the uft some more on the importance of assist of technology. >> Yeah, this year we had two recently in May I did uh two uh one in the Bronx and

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one in Queens in collaboration with the um directors of special ed. We did train some educators there. that that's such a a good um suggestion, Anita. Thank you. >> Thank you, Marcus. >> Okay, so next question. I know that

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there's a lot of buzz around um AI and I think that these tools that are being offered, they're edte, they're not AI per se. And so this is one of the things that I try

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to clarify when I'm out there um you know discussing uh AI and you know a lot of people are resistant to it. So do you have any uh tips or feedback that you can share with us?

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Number one. Number two, um, with the use of this edtech, this software, how secure is data of the students, student data. In other words, our assisted technology tools go through

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um, Irma approval. Um, so we don't use at, they're not Irma approved. Um, in addition, the tools that we use have we've been using for many, many, many years. And so we can vouch for for their

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effectiveness and um security. So you can trust that assist of technology tools are safe. Um also at this time the assist of technology that we use have AI features

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but it's not generative AI like you can't say do the work for me right it supports the student in doing the work so that they could do the work um that's where we are with it

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>> and Mary Chris just to provide um two specific examples like in read and write I know you mentioned the natural natural sounding voices. So, it's it's using AI to enhance the voices to support students, right? Was there another one

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in read and write? Um I'm thinking about the word prediction. Yeah, the um yes, the word prediction because it it does um have it does use the corowiter where it predicts the the the words also the uh picture dictionary is you know when

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you highlight it just didn't work for me because of the Wi-Fi today but when you highlight a word click on the picture dictionary icon it would generate a symbol sticks symbol for that word >> and Mary Chris I and CCS yeah I do want

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to bring this back to what Mark Gonzalez said in the beginning. Um, we need your help when it comes to this whole discussion about AI and students with um, special needs and the use of AT. Um,

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we can't get to the point where we're just blanketly saying no screen time for students, no AI for students. It's like we need to have a more thorough conversation to make sure they're weeding out

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um some of these discussions so that students with disabilities truly have what they need from an assisted technology space. >> Okay. Thank you. Um any other council members with questions? Maggie,

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>> I just wanted to say hi to Spencer. Thanks for coming on. Hi. Are you from school? >> Hello. So, >> hi. >> Hi, Spencer.

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>> Um, yeah. So, I see. So, back to what like Anita was was mentioning the the concern. So, so the concern I personally have with

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certain features that are available in uh within some of the tools that are used for example Cami are things like simplify and rewardify right um

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so I've noticed that the the teachers or the schools they've tended to not allow that to be used. Um I want to I want to I would like to have a more robust

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discussion about the each of the tools that is available within each of the features that's available within each of the AT tools only because you know with this whole discussion about AI and

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and at you we are not um there certain things can come at a crossroads when it comes to that because yes, students need those at tools. Um, they need speech uh speech to text and

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all that stuff, but when it comes to certain features, I don't think it might be good for them. Um, because I've seen it uh where, you know, it asks the question, right? So when it comes to critical thinking, if

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the student is using um let's say simplify or rewardify or or summary um it does it for them and yes it might um within within the within whatever the

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text they're learning they're you know it's grabbing you know it's grabbing it from there but it's not allowing the student to kind of sit there and do the work and like think it through. Um, and

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I mean there are different other different ways that I think can be possible can make it better for for the students who have disabilities to kind of work through it um within the within

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the tools without like skipping that step because what because students are very smart and so they start to learn, oh I can do is use this, you know, uh, you know, click on

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this tab and then it'll just do it for me or, you know, um, help me more with it instead of them having to think through um, with each of the the um, whatever they're presented with. So

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that's my concern about certain features within AT and of course the the data security also how that whatever the companies themselves the vendors themselves how they're utilizing that um that data that they're getting that how

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how it's being gathered how it's being secured I trust the CAT team I trust um the work that you guys are doing but it's just you know there's a lot of money involved in that So, I just want to be uh cautious about that and just

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showing um just telling you guys my concerns personally. >> Yeah, I'd love to respond to that. And I see you have your your hand up also. Um I think that you're hitting on such the right question that many people are grappling with right now. How do we use

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technology to make access to learning possible without replacing learning? And and I I do think this really has to be like with anything looking at the impact of disability on the students um ability

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to access and and how is this actually lessening the impact of that disability and that's going to be different for different kids and it will also change over time even for the same kiddo. And so really really looking at that as an

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ongoing partnership with the teachers, the IEP team. Um, certainly with the advice of the AT team, I think that those are really nuanced conversations. I love what you said, Maggie. Kids are very smart and uh and they are click

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click clickers. Uh, and um, and they they're able to kind of break in a system. And I think that that I've been a teacher for nine years and in education my whole life. I think that is part of the work is also saying how do you use a tool in a way that supports

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you but that does not hold you back. I don't think it's easy but I think it's important. >> Thank you. We got Joanne and then we'll come back to Maggie. Joanne, go ahead. >> Anita, >> I I understand where you was going with

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that, but I had some concerns with what you were saying. Um, as far as Cammy, I didn't understand what you mean by the teachers wasn't allowing the students to use Cammy in the class. Um, I was was a little confused with

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that one, Maggie. Um, there are certain features within each of the tools. So, Cami is like the AT tool. So, there are certain features on it. There's um there's I think simplify there's O or maybe that's um

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read and write. I'm not sure. >> I fell you with Cammy, but I'm just saying I just wasn't sure what you meant like they just can't use Cammy in class or they can't use it like on test and certain things. >> No, no, no, no. What I mean is Cami as a

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whole can be used. What I meant is certain features within within Cami, the Cami tool. That's that's what I'm talking about. that there are certain there are certain things that that are locked out. >> So I do know cuz my daughter been using

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Cammy for years and I know Cammy just merged with another app cuz when we went to CAP and did a trainer recently, my daughter and the trainer, they was having a whole big discussion about it and everything and it was some new

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features they was so surprised that it could do that it couldn't do before. or they was having a ball with it. Um, I do know one thing was on the IEP, as long as it's listed on the IEP,

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it could be used, but I do know one thing they will speak in on Cammy and certain features that deals with editing and changing the wording of their paragraphs. and when they writing

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they are not allowed to use it like on state tests and different things like that. I do know certain IEP state that so I'm not sure if that's what you mean like like classroom

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testing and state testing they're not allowed to use it at that given time. I'm not sure if that's what you're referring to because that's the only time I know certain programs like Cammy and others they're not allowed to use it. But like for homework and other

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times that's the first time I'm being I'm hearing that they're not allowed to use it. We we are Hold on one sec. We We are at >> everybody. We are at time. Is there a motion to add 10 minutes because we have a lot of questions?

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>> I I second that. >> Well, you need a motion first. All right, we got a motion second. All in favor? >> Okay, opposed? No. Good. All right, so 10 more minutes. Um, we've got a bunch of questions out there. Um, let's let's

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>> I'm not saying it's not this wasn't like a test and accommodation. I just know that they do put that on students IEPs that they are not allowed to use it. Especially for students that has um assistant technology uses on their test,

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the state test and stuff like that. They're not allowed to use it for editing and stuff like that because I did question that in the IP meeting. So, that has been said to me and stated and um I guess the the specialists over here

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can vouch or add the the icing on the cake in regards to that. >> Just real quick on that, Mark, if I could just add I think in the end it really comes down to education where when we're talking about assistive technology,

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it's targeting the specific needs of students. So when we use the word they, we're talking about groups of students. That is programmatic. When we do our evaluations, we're looking at the individual needs of students. And if

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we're looking at programs like re uh CAMI or even read and write, we're providing guidance to school teams including the use of of those specific tools within read and write or cami like rewardify. if they need additional information and education on these

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specific tools, I would highly recommend that they reach out to us for support. Mary Chris, anything to add on that? >> No, that was perfectly um perfectly set. Well, I wanted to add too that assist of technology is a context. It's not just

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about the tool. It's about the students needs. The student has to have a disability in order to use assist of technology. First and foremost, there's a need, right? What is the task? You're not going to use the tool when the

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student is being tested or that tool. Like for example, during ELA, like you're not going to use a dictionary, right? That's not allowed. Okay? So, you're going to use it in a context to help the student participate. If the task is show me what you what you know,

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answer questions about the passage that you just read, that's thoughts on paper. You're not going to then have the student uh handwrite or or spell. You want the student to show you what you

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know, right? To show you what they know and then compose this story. Perhaps they use dictation. perhaps that's the only way that they can that they can support. Um it's really a context. It's not just the tool. Um and and kids when

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they find value and Spencer is here can he can he can vouch for that. When they find value in the tool that helps them truly helps them to participate in class, they won't abuse it. I have to say um there's so much research out there. Yes, we definitely need to keep

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guard rails when we give technology to sorry this is going to be the last one. When we give technology to we also need to train because in the end these are still students. We still need to teach them how to use the technology. We need to give them show them the tools the

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practical applications so that they can use it for for their academic success. That's it. >> And the key here is the I and IEP, right? It's individualized to the student. I mean that's that's the most critical. It's what they need to be able to access the material and handle the

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material. And that's got to always be I mean it's federal law. That's always the the the guiding light for everything that that is done. Um Amanda um Amanda, Tam, Jen, and then uh we we'll have a

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couple more questions in here. Amanda, go ahead. >> Um so the phrase I've been saying a lot for the past week is you did not answer my question. And I understand that you want to make sure that the evaluations are done within the time frame that's prescribed by the law. Um my question

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was what is the average andor what percentage of I of evaluations are done within the 60 days? What percentage of students do get their devices within 60 days? Because I will take you it took literally a year from the time we first requested the evaluation to the time we

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got the training for the device was one year. Um, the second one is a more general one in that past presentations you talked about read and write being available for all students, but every time I brought it up to my principal, the principles at other schools in my district and the superintendent team, they knew nothing about it. I've

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literally told them about it like five different times. And each time they're like, "Oh, I've never heard about this." And the time and trying to get read and write onto my child's laptop before we got the assisted technology was impossible. We weren't able to do it. So, I know that it's available for all

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of the students. Has there been any sort of effort to make sure that any DOE devices have access to read and write, have access to the toolbar already installed on it when the students get it? >> Absolutely, Amanda. Thank you for that. And I can tell you for sure that we have

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been in partnership with TIT and they have pushed the extension to everyone because we are now we have um a central domain now. So the question becomes is that particular school using a different domain. Maybe it's PS1. PS1 doesn't have

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access to it. It has to be at schools for for the staff at schoolsnyc.gov for the staff and for the students that nycstuds.net. that's the that's the domain. Um so if there's you know you can always reach out to us. We can help facilitate that

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route because we've been working very hard to get this out um for for the students and everyone. >> I think for and I just want to um add on to that. Thank you so much Mary Chris. First of all I'm sorry that it took so long to get the device. That's absolutely not what we want and not what

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we are going for at all. We do not have the specific average number to give to you tonight and so just want to be very transparent about that. You're right. We did not directly answer that. So wanted to give you um the clear answer on that which is that we don't have an answer to share tonight. I do want to get the

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message out about read and write to more and more people. And I think that there is an email um um address that we can share. Um, so if you run into a principal or a teacher who has not heard of it, then they can directly connect in and get support from DOE staff. So

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you're not the only one saying this is a good thing. This is a good thing. Um, the trainings that we've been doing on read and write are reaching more and more and more schools and people and we want every principal and every teacher to know about this extraordinary resource that's available for all

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students. And we're not there yet. Um, and so definitely want to put in the chat when we can the contact information for read and write so they can be connected to a training um, or to talk to a DOE staff person about it if they have questions. Thank you so much.

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>> Thank you, Tam. Go ahead. >> Hi, everybody. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Yes. >> Okay. Awesome. Sorry. Now I'm all nervous because I was waiting and I I totally forgot. I got to look at my notes. Sorry. I just want to

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say that having assist of technology and getting that accommodation in the beginning of 8th grade for for my son was a gamecher academically for him. So I it was my experience un you know I

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feel very very I hear the last speaker Amanda I hear you and I know that's been the case for a lot of people. Um, I guess luckily for us it was a speedy process and he had the most thorough evaluation and assessment I've ever seen. And this kid's had neurosy the kazoo. I mean, he's had every assessment

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known to man. And the CAT team did the most beautiful evaluation with photographs with I mean everything and all the recommendations and immediately opened up an IEP meeting, put all the accommodations on there. The eighth grade team went into action. They have never even like dealt with this on this

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level before. They implemented it. It was integrated. It wasn't like it is at so many schools in the IEP meetings that I'm in with families where you bring up assist of tech and the school ad the school team thinks that just means getting a word process word processor

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like access to word processing you know and it's it's an integrated tool throughout all of the day throughout all of the courses. So for a kid with severe executive functioning issues who used to eat his own homework somehow, lose it in

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his bag, forget to go to, you know, to turn it in, forget all these things. Now he has digital access. He does all of his PDFs in class online on his computer, submits it in real time, submits his homework in real time. All of these things were done as a teen by

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the eighth grade. And it changed everything for him. Everything. confidence, love of school, all of the things. So, thank you. Ninth grade, same school, absolute opposite experience. Same school, ninth grade team. Had no

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idea how to implement, but hit it. And instead, my son had no assist of technology for four months of high school. And when I finally figured out what was going on, they're like, "He has a computer. That's not assist of tech. Read the IEP." They said, "Well, we're sorry. We don't know how to do that."

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And so the answer was that ignorance is okay and that's an excuse not to give, you know, a pretty like standard very very important tool to a kid who needs it. Um, and they eventually got training by the CAT team. They had to call the teachers together and they were pissed

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off about it. They didn't want to do it. There's something about contract hours and this and that. And just long story short, it never got implemented correctly. He has access to it in two classes. That's it. Um, so I know the training is really important. I don't know how to get the message out to

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school teams that they need to like follow through with fidelity that it's not about having a laptop in your bag. It's about access to everything on that, all the software and all the ability to digitally track the work and the scaffolding and the disgraphia and the dyslexia supports and all of the above.

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So, if I can help in any way, um I would love to have you come. I'm a CACD2 member. I would love to have you come and and speak to us. I'm also the chair of um students with disabilities committee there and we get lots of assist of tech questions. I know that in elementary school the teachers are very

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against it. So that's a whole another conversation that maybe we can have. Um read and write. Our school had no idea what the hell it was. You know, I was so excited to learn about it when I was on CCSE and I I brought it to the SLT at our school and the principal, even the teachers had no idea. They had never

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heard of it. They still don't know about it and they are not using it at all. Um, we have 22% students with IEPs, by the way, and we need lots of reading and writing intervention at our school. But my question for you outside of like how do you get them to actually do the

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training? Um, is is two things. Do you train the students in person in the classroom setting more than once if they need it? I know my student received instruction online um when he was at school. he went to a room and got CAT

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training and that that was fine for him because he's really digitally savvy. But I know some students need a lot more support to get that kind of you know training with their device and their teachers aren't trained to do it. So I'm wondering how the CAT team delivers that service in school during the day. So that's part one. The other one was

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something that came up recently. A parent asked me if under a 504 plan she could secure a full assist of technology for her neurode divergent student who has ADHD and disgraphia. And she was told that she she can't because it's the

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504 accommodation is only for students with physical disabilities. They get access to technology in that way. But the integration of assist of tech wouldn't happen without an IEP. So I wanted to see if that was correct information and what you thought about that. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Tim.

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Um, next up, go ahead, David. >> So, Tim, uh, Tam had a couple of questions there, Mark. Just real quick. Number one, uh, your answer about are we available to provide additional support? Yes. Um, for the 504, I think I need and Mary

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Chris, I think we need a little more information on that case. um to provide the um information. So if you can send me an email um >> Sure. >> Yeah. Let's make that

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>> we like >> Yes. And trainings. Uh we provide you know inperson virtual whatever the student and the staff needs because sometimes we're there we're ready for in person but it's really you know just a

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virtual thing. Um and it is really not just to use the technology but how how can it be integrated in the curriculum. >> Thank you Jen. Go ahead. >> Audio. Okay. Um hi. I'm Jen. Uh, Chad,

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I'm an advocate and I'm actually not here to ask um a question to you, but to ask a question to someone here in the audience today um who is my intern and my son and a New York City public school

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graduate who had an IEP. Um, Spencer, I I want to let you know that the people in this virtual room today, most of them are either advocates of students with disabilities or they are administrators

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working for students with disabilities in the city. So, you're talking to a very important audience right now. You know, unfortunately, today is the day before a very long weekend. So, usually there's a lot of parents here. There's there aren't that many like like just

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non-advocate parents here. So, I want you to think really carefully about like the the people here and then think about like your presentation at the AT Expo about all the stuff that you learned. You just finished your first year in

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college and you can hear there's a lot of stuff going on. There's a lot of unhappiness. There's a lot of, you know, you use read and write still, you know, and like, so think about like what you want to tell maybe the the

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administrators of New York City public schools here and also the advocates of New York City public school, how important at is for you or not important, whatever you want to say, tell them what you think um about like

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how to deal with all this stuff going on. Big question. Sorry. Sorry, Spencer. >> Problem. Um, so I I I would have to say that at throughout the entirety of my uh

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time at the DOE education. Um, at has been something that has been quintessential to my learning. Uh, without it, I don't think I would be half the student that I ended up being. It's helped me so much in how I've been

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able to learn, how I've been able to uh explore uh my interests in schools. So even right now as technology has really um as technology is really uh developing and evolving especially around AI um I I

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recognize that a lot of people may have concerns about the potential abuse for AI. Um and and to that I would say that AI shouldn't necessarily be viewed as something that could be dangerous for us but more as an opportunity to explore

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how we can actually use AI to further help students um instead of being as instead of looking at it as something that uh kids can use u to gain an unfair advantage because I think at the end of

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the day AI is here to help us or we can at least use AI to help us. I I know like some other companies are like, "Yeah, they're not here to help us." But I think there's a lot of opportunity for us, especially with um AI voice assist

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that that could really help and upgrade a lot of text to speech editors. I think we need to look at not just how AI might be abused, we need to look we also need to look at how AI might be helpful in a way. uh right now in college for example

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um one of the things that are really that is really emphasized is how to use AI to help you how to use AI to assist you yourself in education how to use it to teach yourself instead of just trying

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to get an easy answer um so I recognize there there definitely is a lot of validity around AI and there's definitely a lot of concerns with it that are valid but I think It's definitely a mistake to view AI as

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something that's going to only serve as something to hinder students' education. I think it's I think it's both. It can do both and we need to look at how it can help instead

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of just how it can hurt. >> Thank you. I appreciate that Spencer. Thank you for your insight being an actual uh user in the uh classrooms over the years. So really appreciate your insight and thank you Jen. All right, we

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are we are well past time. like to really thank the AT team for for your insightfulness, all your coaching you do for our students and families and teachers and staff and and for what you do to really

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focus on the eye and and all of our students and focus on the individuals. So, really appreciate your time. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Um and thank you office of special education as well.

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All right, we are now at public comment. So, we'll open it up for public comment. Any public comment? Raise your virtual hand if you've got something. >> All right. Um, go ahead, Susie. >> Hi. How are you doing? Good evening.

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That was a great presentation. My name is Susie Wong Benjamin. I'm actually I have a son that Well, I have two sons. they actually use AAC devices. Um, one is um very um you know curious about the

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device itself and is able to exit out of the program and start venturing off to things like Google map search and things of that nature and not really use the device as it's supposed to be uh as it's meant to be used. So the question is are

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there ways of creating um great safeguards when it comes to these iPads so that way the child is really forced to use the program and are there ways of checking in with families to ensure that

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the program is suited for that child and their level of learning. So, if it's something where the child is super advanced and the device doesn't seem to help them communicate uh because of

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limitations or boredom, is there something in place to help use that device, use the software to help that child grow, thrive with their communication, especially when they're

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non-verbal? Yeah. So, so Susie, there are actually quite a few. It depends on what device. I'll use an an iPad or an Apple device. Apple has got some amazing parental controls. If you literally just go to Apple site

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and type in parental controls, it'll show you. You can actually restrict by program what parts of the screen they can actually touch. Um, so you can really limit it to certain features they're allowed to use

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at certain times of the day or certain days of the week. You can limit what they're allowed to do in a program if you allow them to use that program. And so there are in Apple there are very you

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can get so granular that basically they can only touch these 10 pixels on this program. You know I mean you can get that detailed. So from an Apple standpoint I'm not going to pretend to know the Chromebooks at all cuz I don't use that garbage. Um don't trust Google

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for anything. Um but for Apple they give you the ultimate control. That being said, there's a little bit of training you have to do yourself and and that's that is a hurdle, but it's certainly doable. Um, in terms of the software

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question you had, that really comes down to I'll go back to the I and IEP, right? It's what the individual student needs and that gets back to your IEP meeting or going to call a a reconvene on an IEP meeting to discuss the software needs because

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that's the team that's supposed to work with you. And if the IEP team, the DOE portion of the IEP team needs help, then they should go reach out to the CAT team who can then assist them to assist whoever the parent guardian is in the

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IEP mean. But ultimately, that's kind of the purpose of the IEP or one of the purposes of the IP mean to discuss software. And I just had a IP meeting for my older one this week and we talked about software on his device and we kind of went through the catalog

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of this is what he's got and oh by the way we need to add this thing on because now he's this grade and he needs more sophisticated tools. He doesn't need the I'll call it kitty version since he's you know graduating next year. Um but he

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needs a much more advanced version um of stuff. And so that's really the the ultimate point of the communication with parents on what tools are right is got to be the IEP meeting. Now the challenge becomes sometimes the staff doesn't that you're working with may not be experts

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and that's where then they need to go out and talk to the cat team and come back and then do a quick reconvene or an amendment to the IEP and say hey we want to put this on or take this off or whatever. But that's ideally where it should happen. Anita,

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>> I just wanted to add um this it sounds like you're alluding to the fact that it is a parent. It is an investment that is made by the parent Apple programs. Um if it's an AT DOE device, then the parent

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has to make that you know and has to work with the CAT team to ensure that that access is given. Right. Do you is that what you do? >> Yeah. You you you work you work through your school. There is a liaison at every school, a technology liaison at every

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school. And that liaison has the capability and the authorizations that they can go help change the we'll call it the parental I mean the parental controls or the access controls for software. But yeah, they

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they have administrator access. They can work with parent, guardian or teacher staff to restrict or enable access to software or parts of the screen, whatever it is depending on what that individual student needs. And so that's

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and that's why partially why they have a leazison at every school. That's that's one of their roles. >> And how about go guardian? I know go guardian exists in the at department. However, there's a budget issue of some sort. I didn't bring this up to them,

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but they have access to GOG Guardian, but there is this is a question that if one of us could bring this up, that would be great. Go Guardian is a program that teachers have access to as well as parents and all that, but there is a

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budgetary of there's a concern around budget like who should cover it, whether it should be DOE central or the school itself. So they have in the schools regular devices and in the schools they

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have a person a tech person that controls the access to the regular devices like um similar to what you was talking like go guardian or whatever that will block them from whatever they

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need. they will do that. But when it comes to the actual apps and stuff, that's when the CAT teams comes in. And the reason why I say that is I experienced that with my daughter because the school actually blocked her

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from something that the CAT team actually gave her access for and they had to go back in and give her access to something that they blocked her from that they shouldn't have. So the school actually have one team that blocks the

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regular devices and the CAT team handles the IEP devices >> and the school leaison know also at at the schools for technology they are able to work with IEP devices as well even if they're issued by the central office

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they still have full capability of doing that. So um go I'm not I wasn't familiar with until I'm looking at their website. I mean, some of it like the hall pass, I mean, that's going to be a school budget. That's not going to be a C a DOE budget. Um, the admin teacher features,

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I I don't know. We have we can we can reach out to to central and see see how that works and and what what that is. Something like this would probably um lower the temperature amongst the parent

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community right now in terms of device usage, not just for special needs kids, but just across the board with all kids, students, daily students. >> I don't know. I mean, a lot of the stuff I'm seeing, a lot of the stuff I'm seeing from an admin perspective built into Apple. I know Google's got similar

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stuff built into their thing. So, I don't know why you'd pay extra money for some of the stuff that's literally built into Apple and backend servers at DOE that are in the city. That being said, there's some there probably more features than just that. And we can we can reach out to central and see what

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what the usage is, how many schools are using GoG Guardian if and how many devices and see what what the value is versus what currently DOE uses, if they use something similar or if this is their main driver. I just I don't owe this technology.

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All right, we've got some hands up in public comment. Um Jacqueline, please go ahead. >> First, I want to say that an elitist comment was made. I'm not here to defend any tech company, but calling u a

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company garbage um is a bit elitist because everybody uses what they use based on their capacity. This comment was made when the parent asked the question about barriers in technology. So I just want to make that point there.

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But I do want to uh speak on um where are we when it comes to communicating with our uh partners in CUNI when it comes to assisted technology as our children transition into postsecary

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educational spaces? Are we all going to begin having conversations about um at because we know that everybody uses different systems and if our children are using these devices um during their

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time in secondary education and they eventually have to transition, I think it would be worth having um partnerships so that we have some sort of uh understanding of what's to come for our scholars when they transition over,

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right? Because uh there may be programs that uh are used and I'm just talking about from a local perspective of CUNI that they may be using that we can begin planning for for our transitioning scholars by the time they reach 11th

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12th grade so that when they so that the software that they're using there is a sense of connection, right? So if a child has been using the same speechto text software for four to 5 years, I think it's worth having

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conversations about what is to come and what could be an alternative so that we can begin the transitional process if for instance a student is moving into CUNI and I believe CUNI is a DOE partner

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despite it being a different entity but I think these conversations are worth having especially if our scholars are transitioning into uh post-secary educational opportunities. >> Hey, thank you Jackie. I think the challenge with software is which ones do

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you use? Like you know uses Brightpace, right? Used to use Blackboard and the challenge is a learning management system like that is comparable to a Google classroom, you know. So, do we switch from Google classroom

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to a bright space? That being said, there are a zillion different learning management systems out there. That gets challenging because, you know, Sunni uses a different one than CUNI. Um, >> we can start simple with CUNI as our

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partner because CUNI is local here in New York City and a lot of our uh scholars do transition into the CUTUNI system and I'm not saying that we would change the learning management system but it's worth an introduction and like when we do have that IEP meeting by 11th

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12th grade to begin talking about at the transferring of like understanding that it may be different, right? Because for a parent, >> they may not understand that you're not going to you might get kurszsw

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right in in in school. And it's important for them to begin understanding what else is out there because you go into shock, right? You use the same speech to text software for four to five years and now we're transitioning. So not to say we have to

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change it but it's worth having a conversation because you all are our uh eyes and ears in the academic space. So if you know Brightpace, which they just most of the uh universities out here in

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uh New York City transitioned to it to begin educating families on what it means to transition and when it comes to assisted technology into post-secary educational opportunities because if we don't have the conversations, the expectation may

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be similar programming, which that's not the case. But I think that's something that should be brought up during the IEP meetings for our 11th and 12th graders for parents to begin thinking about technology changes as they enter into

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new spaces because it's going to come. >> Yeah. Know certainly that that's certainly a discussion for the transition part of the IEP and the IEP meetings. I mean that can start as early as, you know, 14 years old. But certainly to your point, the last couple of years, last year especially,

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understanding how the world changes as you leave the DOE into whatever you do post DOE matters and your your point well taken. Thank you, Tam. Go ahead, please.

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there. Didn't mean to put my face on, meant to put my sound on. Um, I know it's general comment and I feel like I'm strained from the topic of assist of technology, so I hope that's okay. Is that going to be a bad thing, Mark?

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>> Go ahead, Sam. It's public comment. >> Okay. Um, this has just been on my mind and it's something I wanted to put out there to CCS to see if there's anything that you might do about it holistically, which would take, you know, time and and thought, but the everything I'm hearing

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about climate and culture um, in schools, with with staff, with even well-meaning stuff sometimes, but and with teachers um, around students with disabilities and their needs. Um, so I don't like to just, you know, I'm

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trying not to just to talk about my son, but like my son's school, this is an issue and I want to see how widespread it is. So they shifted this year um to not notifying parents of this, not making this clear in any way, um that they they began to modify all of the

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tests. And so this is, you know, a school that in all of their core areas, you know, they have they're oversubscribed, they say, for students with IEPs. So, you know, large classes of 37, 38 kids, 18 of them have IEPs, that kind of thing. So, they want to

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speed up the process and instead of giving them their separate testing accommodations with time and a half and extended time, they're chopping their tests in half in class. They're giving them two multiplechoice options instead of three. Um, they're not doing the whole tests. They're not doing the whole

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assignment. They're they're lit literally doing a chopped up version of it and they're not getting and they're actually scoring worse. um in those situations because you get one wrong that's that's more you know when you're not taking as many but also there's just

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no no accommodation for them on their you know they have it on their IEP they get extended time and they said that you know they call it adaptation they're adapting the curriculum not modifying it but it's modification and it was never discussed in IEP meetings with parents it was never discussed fully with

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students they're just like oh yay I get to take a shorter test they don't understand what they're signing up for what they're signing off on. I know, you know, several kids have just felt like they couldn't say no when the teacher presented them with two opportunities. One to go be somewhere else and do the test and have to do it again. The second

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part another day or at lunchtime or after school or do a short cool version in class. Um, and so this happened all year and it was, you know, at least a few dozen parents that brought it up and it was just complete denial that it was

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happening until we were able to secure, you know, at the actual test that a gened kid and a kid with an IEP took and you could see the difference. Um, and it's it's mind-blowing to me. And we had this, you know, restorative circle that Johanna was there for actually um

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recently at the school to deal with some, you know, issues that sped families were having with the administration. And this came up and again just denial, you know, we're we're modifying. We're not modifying, we're adapting. We give them a choice and we express our concerns about it. But one

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of the teachers told us that it is impossible to manage the testing accommodations for this many kids and the only option they have is to either come back at lunch and kids don't want to miss their lunch or the next day they resume testing. And when it happens next

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day they miss whatever you know is happening in class. But the teachers don't like that option because they think the kids are going to cheat, that they're going to look ahead on the test, that they're going to know what's in front of them, that they're somehow going to cheat because they get extended time, which I just think is is a

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horrible thing for any educator, especially a special educator, to think about our students. Um, it's not advantageous for our kids to have to spend two days taking the test with extended time. I mean, it's ridiculous. It's not advantageous for them to miss lunch because they have to do it. it's

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not advantageous for them to miss out on instructional time because they can't figure out how to do this. So, I just wanted to see if there was any ideas from any of you CCSE members of the community if you're seeing this in your own school

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what we can do to get ahead of this because I was like more troubled by the attitude that like they're cheaters and that's why we have to do this and there it's a pain in the ass to manage their accommodations and doing what's convenient for teachers versus and I'm a teacher. I'm not down on teachers, but doing what's convenient for them versus

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what's right for children. Um, and how to change that attitude and like start making some opportunities for real conversations between CCSE and some of these these schools. Um, I think would

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be maybe a first step. I just needed to say it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for that, Tim. I mean, I think, you know, modifying curriculum, adapting it, whatever you want to do, is part of an IEP. If it's not on a IEP,

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it's not supposed to be done. Certainly not for testing. That's it's breaking federal law to modify or adapt a test unless it's on the IEP. I mean, flat out, they're breaking federal law. It's a it's a clear-cut black and white. This

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is not difficult. you know, the comment about cheating. Well, then you've got to wonder who the proctors are, right? You've got you've got to first start with the proctors and go, who's proctoring these exams and what are they doing? I mean, if they're just playing

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Uno at their desk and not proctoring the exams, that's a problem, right? They should see what's going on. So, if they're worried about cheating, then it's up to the teachers to actually ensure what what's going on. So I I think that the teachers need to look in the mirror and go, "What are you

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doing?" I mean, if a student has got time and a half or double time, they got time and a half or double time and it's part of their job to figure it out. It's not a difficult concept for most schools because I I I've got kids in multiple

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schools and both kids, they figure out how to do it. Now, you know, sometimes it is at lunchtime. You know, sometimes it's using one of those alternate periods that they have. You know, that's the reality. Sometimes it is the next day finishing up the exam.

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And that's just how it is. But, you know, if the kids's entitled to time and a half or the kids entitled to double time, then they get it. And it's the teacher's responsibility to do their job. And if the teachers can't do their job, they need to find a new job flat out because it's in their

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IEP and it's their job to do their job. So I I I'm honestly frustrated that that you you're feeling that and seeing that and honestly I'm disappointed whatever administrator or teacher is involved in that and makes it seem like they can't do their job. We need to get new

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teachers in. I'm sorry. I I I you sign up for the job knowing what it entails and if you can't do your job, go find a new one, but don't break federal law. It's very simple to me. So, I'll leave it at that. If any other council member

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would like to comment, please feel free. >> Hi, Tam. I just want to say that I personally uh know exactly what you're referring to. Um, my son personally experienced it. Um, and it was ample detective work that I had to go

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through in order to, you know, pull pull together pull together all the evidence, the denials. I wholeheartedly understand the subtleties of of what it was like to experience this. And you're right, it's

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it's hidden. And also um I just want to add it's not always the teachers that are making that decision. Usually it's the assistant principal or what have you who's who's saying who's working with the teachers and saying this is what we need to do because this is the way to

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address um testing accommodations. So yeah um this should be an agenda topic that um we address and figure out how we can advocate as a CCSE. Please stay connected with us, Tam, in

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relation to this. >> Thank you. All right. I don't see any more hands up. Uh any counselors? Maggie, go ahead. So, I think well, um, Jim, I don't I don't want to put you on the spot or anything but

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um, when it comes to the culture and and just the language um, the abbleist language um, that you've you've been hearing in regards to, you know, the concerns that supposedly they the the teachers have or staff has uh, about

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cheating. when you're talking about like these testing accommodations, I mean I I I mean it's it's something that it's not only happening at this particular uh school. It's happening.

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We're we're see I'm I'm actually seeing another school where that's the kind of like attitude and behavior that is um put forth with students that are with with um particular student that is there

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that has an IEP and that um has testing accommodations or the bus, you know, uh has busing um accommodations also or just um you know, anything having to do with their IEP mandates,

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they have a problem with it. And and it seems like it's more of um well, I don't even know what I it it's I don't know if it's lack of uh awareness, um lack of support, lack of whatever,

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but the culture, but I I just And it and and it comes from the top. So, um you know, I for one have brought this up to to the team at Dial, uh with when it comes to specialized, um I guess high

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schools, um that that there's two that we know of where there's this these cases and the culture and all that stuff. So, I just want to let you know that we're uplifting that those those concerns in terms of that aspect of it. Um, but yeah, the IP mandate needs to be

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respected and when it doesn't, it needs to be the case needs to be escalated. >> Thank you. Thank you for for all of that. You guys, thank you. Um, I just just really quickly, Mark, I forgot. Um, I didn't forget, but just hearing Maggie and Anita and everyone. Thank you. Um,

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the Sorry if there's any kids on here. Oh my god, I just told Oh, I know what it was. It's It's the pressure that they're also putting on the students who don't understand that this is like their

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right to have the the testing done the way that it is on the IEP. And so they're they're framing it like if you don't take choice number A, like you're a pain in the ass kind of thing. And so the students feel pressured to give up, you know, they're essentially denying the service when they accept the

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modified test and they don't know that they're doing that. They're just doing what their teacher is telling them is a better eligent. So that that also to me seems extremely negligent. >> Thank you, Tim. All right, I do not see any more hands up for public comment. Oh, sorry, Jen.

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Go ahead. >> Hi. Um, lower hand. Um, I I I love assisted technology, of course. I really do. It's one of the reasons why I came back to public school and my kids were

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down public school because now public school was so slow with this at um I I thought you know this is just sort of like to lay it out there because I think a lot of the people in this room are

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parents and parent advocates now and so it there is like this huge problem of like waiting forever for your tech waiting for I mean waiting forever for an ATV valve. I don't know if people know but there is actually like an AT

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referral form and like that has to be filled out first by the school and then you get a date, you know, and like if the parent doesn't know that that form wasn't filled out, then they could be sitting and not having any clue that

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they're not even up for an atal date because the referral form wasn't sent in. this is after you sign the consent form, you know, so like things like that you don't know and so like you know that question of what is the average wait

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time for an at about you know I don't think we'll ever get the answer. Um another thing that might be a good idea is how long is their weight list? You know, I think it is great that you can get at val after school and on weekends,

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but the thing is if you don't get your atal inside the school where the the teachers are supposed to come and talk about what is the student learning, I deliver my curriculum this way. I make everybody do this. I ask everybody to do

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that. Like they need like the AT evaluators need to know. So clearly we don't have enough at evaluators in our city. So like you know some ways to go about changing that might be making a survey you know getting people to write

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down it took me a whole year to get my tech. It took me you know um or even like a survey like uh I don't like when my kid is using spell check in his spell test. you know, you should use spell

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check, but not when it's spelling test time. You know, like, you know, those are the things that should be documented, brought up because I think the people who came out to present today are wonderful people and like I I would like their team to be expanded like

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fivefold, but like it's never going to happen because they can never tell us uh I need a lot more people working for me. They can't tell us that. But can could we possibly help them by complaining

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like big time maybe? So that's just a thought for today while we go on to our weekend. Thank you T. I think you know there's a new system coming on board for K to2 families at some point. It's called

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Atlas. It's the replacement for CEUS. In theory, there's going to be tracking for stuff like that where a parent would actually see where they are in the process or at least that was the version that was discussed about two

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years ago now. Um would be that it would show where the family is in the process. I mean they currently have CEUS or Atlas in place for preK, right? and you see where you are in that application process. You can

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literally see step by step by step for preK students. The idea was that would carry through for K to 12. So you'd whatever process you have going on, you'd be able to see your status and so that you know we haven't got an

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update in few months with with Atlas. We'll certainly want to have them come and talk to us again as a community to see where Atlas is in the process. So we can verify that that's still on the pipeline to happen. But the idea was to

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be able to see that. That way we don't have to go and ask the question and not get an answer. We would have the individual answers and we know it'd be tracked because literally you would have all that stuff on parent facing. So, you know, the hope is that Atlas will will

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be part of the way of of getting that information in front of parents so they can see, you know, how many days, you know, ago did they request it? Did the school fill out the form like they have to? What's the scheduled date for the eval? What's the scheduled date for the

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IEP? All meeting all on that on the Atlas screen parent facing. That's that's what the strategy was going to be. and I'm hoping it's still there. That being said, Atlas was supposed to have rolled out everywhere, you know, last summer. So we're now a year delayed

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for Atlas, but you know that ultimately and you know just so everyone's aware that a judge who's who oversees this um went somehat uh ballistic um you know

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interrogated DOE because Atlas is so far behind and the reason Atlas is happening is because of lawsuits and uh you know the the courts are overseeing Atlas. because the DOE was so bad in reporting

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as you know we didn't get an answer to the question that Amanda had put out there. Um and that's again you know so we do have judicial oversight of the DOE. There are monitors from the judge's office that literally have seats in this

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building at tweed to monitor the DOE for various things. And certainly there is a special master um for the courts who's responsible for looking at atlas and reporting. So thank you Jen. Appreciate that.

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All right Cindy. >> Yes. Uh before and Jen was say um they need the referral for the assistant technology. So it's possible like every kids when they need the IEP they need do the educational evaluation they include

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the OTP speech. And this will be include the evaluation >> at PT, speech, OT. They're only evaluated if it's requested or if there is an identified need. Now,

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that being said, let's be clear. IDA, the federal law that that oversees our kids, has a provision called child find. So it's the DOE's responsibility to identify a possible

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challenge that a student has and then evaluate based on that. So the onus is really on a DOE to do it. That being said, real world is a parent guardian needs to ask and request a evaluation

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for at the same way they would request for OTP speech. The challenge though is ultimately child fine says it shouldn't be the parents responsibility. It's the city's job to do it. But in the real world, child find

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is lacking in a lot of cases. And sometimes it's just cuz providers be a teacher or whoever may not notice it at the level or may not be seeing it. You know, a parent guardian

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sees their student their child every day. You know, they they can identify it sometimes a lot easier than a teacher for specific things. But I mean, ideally, it should be the school doing it. Real world, a parent's going to have to ask for each and every one of those

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things individually. It can be on one letter, one email, and it always should be in email or letter form, never verbally, always written down. But, you know, they need to ask for each of those four evaluations if they need any of those any or all of those four

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evaluations. Thank you. All right. Is I think we're at the end of the uh calendar meeting. Is there a motion to adjourn the calendar meeting? >> Yes. I make a motion to adjourn the calendar meeting,

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>> sir. Motion second. All in favor? >> I >> opposed abstain. No. Good. We are adjourned. It is 8:41. Do we need 5 minutes? Okay, >> sure. >> 888. Let's do an 8:40

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48. We'll be back. Thank you all for the business meeting that coming up next. Okay, thank you everybody. It is. We're now going to start the business meeting for the citywide council on special education. It's Thursday, June 18th

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at 8:52. So, thank you. Um, Rose, can we do roll call, please? >> Present. >> Present. >> Present. Present. >> Present. >> Present.

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>> Oh, okay. We are at quorum. Thank you. All right. Um, we actually have an agenda, but we need to swap it around a little bit. Do we have a motion to move our budget up to the top of the agenda and then push everything else down by

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one? Is there a motion to adjust the agenda to talk budget? >> So, wait a minute. The meeting minutes, >> we'll do meeting minutes after the budget. >> So, is there a motion to to adjust the agenda to move the budget up to the top

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of the agenda? >> Second. >> We need a motion first. Ron, can you motion? >> Yeah, I want to make a motion to move the budget first. >> Okay. Is there a second?

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>> Second. Okay. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Abstensions. Okay. All right. So, we're first going to move to the budget. So, we have documents in our folder um for the budget. We do need to So, if

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you can please review it. Rose, do you want to talk about Yeah, and we have opportunity to make changes all the way into March with the budget. So, there's plenty of time to make changes. This just gives us a financial starting point and then we can

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adjust as the council deems appropriate. All right. So, is there so Rose, we need a roll call vote to approve a budget. So, is there a motion to approve uh to vote on the proposed budget? >> We just have a quick question. >> Go ahead, Susie. Go ahead.

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>> Okay. I just wanted to find out um because I know we've spoken about it before in like previous meetings in regards to um even uh setting aside money for the health and wellness committee and such. Is that something that we would need to incorporate like

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for this evening in order to pass this? And >> we can make changes at July or August. I mean any of the months up until and really through the through the March budget. So we can make adjustments at any point with the $25,000

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that we are allocated this count this fiscal year. >> I also I was just going to ask whether or not the um amount that we're you know like discussing to pass for this evening had anything okay

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>> you don't have a copy of it >> here I flipped it over. All right. So, is there a motion to vote on the proposed budget for fiscal 2627? >> Somebody has to motion.

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>> Any any motion to to vote on on the budget? If you need to look it over, please feel free to look it over. But to move forward, we'll need a motion to vote if there is a desire to vote on the budget. 25,000. Yeah.

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>> So each each CCEC is allocated 25,000 per fiscal year. That's the budget. So it handles member reimbursement, food, events, whatever. That's the total budget that each CCEC gets. It was

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raised from 20 a few years ago, but it certainly has not kept up with inflation over the decades. Um, it is it is wfully low. certainly doesn't provide funds for

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any of these councils to be able to really have active community engagement. So, but that's what we're given 25,000 um to to be spent. But to spend it, we have to to vote on a budget otherwise it

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cannot be touched. That means there'd be no member reimbursement starting in July. There would be no website in July. So, we we really do need to vote on a budget to as a starting point. And again, we

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can change it any time, but we will need a motion to vote if we want to have a budget for starting in July 1st. >> All right. I will make a motion for us to uh vote on the proposed CCSE budget for 2026

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to 2027. >> Okay. There's a motion. Is there a second? Okay. All in favor of voting on the budget. Not not there'll be a roll call if if we have a a you know all in favor. So all

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in favor of voting on the budget. >> I >> I >> I. >> Any opposed? Abstensions. Okay. Rose, can you please do a roll call vote? I >> Yes.

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>> Yes. >> Yes. >> I And I have a quick question. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Okay. The quick question is um do we need to do um attendance roll call for

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the business meeting? I don't think we did. >> We already did the we we did the roll call >> for the business. >> Yes. >> Yes. Yes. >> We did the business as well. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. Can we do Can we also just address who's online if

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any members are online? >> There's nobody online. >> No. >> No. No members online. It's okay. >> Yep. >> Question. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Seven. So we the the budget as it is

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passes again members at any time from now through through most of March we can we can make adjustments. So if there are needs that you see as a member, please bring it forth. Let Rose know and she

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can put on the agenda. And when you do that though, we need a budget number. Um, you know, there are a couple of events. Certainly, there is the chancellor's town hall coming up this somewhere between July and June of

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next year. He is mandated every two years to hold it by state law. He did not hold it this year. So, he has to by law or he or whoever the chancellor is has to hold it with somewhere between July 1st and June 30th with us. So, we

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will have an expense for that. Typically, there is food. Um, and you know, we'll use a DOE location. Typically, we've used a a school that's within a quarter mile of here. So, there's no cost to us from that

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standpoint, but there usually is a food cost. It's certainly much more than than we have on a a monthly basis for here because there's a lot more people involved. Um, and then we'll have to decide if we want to do a legislative event. If we do that, that could eat up

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a good chunk of the 25,000. Susie had mentioned that they may in the health and wellness want to hold event or events and there may be a cost with that as well. Um and then if anyone else has any um proposed

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um activities that may um need some budget certainly please bring that forth with as well as when you're ready to discuss with the council. >> Hi I have a question and I'm going to take full advantage of the fact that I'm

460
02:14:11.360 --> 02:14:29.280
new and naive. So yeah. So how do we increase this budget? How do we do this? This is peanuts. I'm sorry. >> Um >> like what do we do here? Number one and number two, >> when it comes to the legislative

461
02:14:29.280 --> 02:14:45.920
breakfast, if we plan six to nine months ahead the date, if we lock in the date, we can get loads of sponsorship. >> Expert. >> So then the the the key is locking it in. So

462
02:14:45.920 --> 02:15:02.320
Yep. Yep. So for the first thing, it's been brought up multiple times in PEP meetings. Um so multiple multiple council members from various CCEC's have brought it up in PEP meetings during the public

463
02:15:02.320 --> 02:15:19.119
comment. It has been brought up at other forums with the chancellor and his staff as well. They raised it 5,000. I don't know if it's three, four, five years ago at this point, but it used to be 20 when Yeah.

464
02:15:19.119 --> 02:15:35.840
when I when I first started it was 20. Um, so I don't know how many years that's been, but it's inflation's happened and costs have gone up and that number has not in any time recent. So, we do need it. Again, the it's the advocacy. It's really more of the PEP

465
02:15:35.840 --> 02:15:53.119
meeting because the PEP is kind of the gatekeeper to the financials. We we could do a resolution. I think the the two two ways of doing it. It's you know we can talk about it at chanc meetings either with the chancellor we can talk

466
02:15:53.119 --> 02:16:09.679
about at the monthly pep meetings or we can do a resolution. I think those are kind of the three avenues that exist to talk about it and certainly if if that's a concern of the council we can certainly at the next meeting have a resolution on that. Um, so I I think

467
02:16:09.679 --> 02:16:24.880
that's certainly a way >> it's happening because to in order to be partners with the the special education division, we are the educators. We are the ones who can really be the preventative avenue whereas a lot of

468
02:16:24.880 --> 02:16:40.399
families deal with things in a very reactive manner and so having a healthc care mindset um prevention is very important and that's where we can along right Cindy. >> Yeah. So, so um and and if we want to

469
02:16:40.399 --> 02:16:56.719
work arm in arm such as a survey, somebody mentioned surveys earlier. I think it was Tam Reed online or Jen. Jen Boy did great idea >> and it's a way to interact with our community. >> So, let's talk. I also wanted to remind

470
02:16:56.719 --> 02:17:13.200
folks that um we h for any reimbursements pending June 30th is right correct Rose that's the >> but we need them really tonight or Rose what's what's the last date for you you need it >> right

471
02:17:13.200 --> 02:17:35.319
>> by tomorrow >> next Friday >> okay and that's that's signed by treasurer on the 20 By the 26th, it's got to be signed by everybody. Correct. >> Sorry, the mic. Sorry, Rose.

472
02:17:49.200 --> 02:18:51.359
>> Mhm. Yeah. Because after that day we lose that that Yeah. There's no Yeah. Yep. >> Councils what they do is is they know they're not going to use it or whatever. Some council members will donate that to

473
02:18:51.359 --> 02:19:07.920
like the legislative breakfast and stuff like that and they will use it like that so that it don't get wasted. So that's what sometimes so if they know we're planning let's say we know we're doing it in May or April and you know you're not going to take all your reimbursement

474
02:19:07.920 --> 02:19:24.000
some council members will donate that and say hey you know what I'm not going to take my home take it add it to that for the food or whatever that's what some councils do as well >> and that's and that's again where we can readjust the budget at any time between

475
02:19:24.000 --> 02:19:42.240
now and and March of next year. Yeah. Okay. We are now We'll go up to the top of the agenda now and look at the meeting minutes. We've got three. Oh Rose. >> Yeah, that's what

476
02:19:42.240 --> 02:19:57.359
>> Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, my apologies. The second one. Help me out. >> Oh, sorry. Rose's expenses. Pardon me, Rose. I am sorry. I apologize. Okay. Um, so we need a motion. The

477
02:19:57.359 --> 02:20:38.880
Rose's expenses are in the folder. We need So Yes. >> So, we need a motion to approve Rose's expenses. So, is there a motion to approve and

478
02:20:38.880 --> 02:20:57.359
then we go to roll call vote if it's >> Is there a second? Cindy, thank you. All we're on. Thank you. Um two seconds. There we go. Um all in favor of voting say >> I. >> I

479
02:20:57.359 --> 02:21:13.359
>> oppose. Abstain. Okay. All right. Rose, roll call a vote. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes.

480
02:21:13.359 --> 02:21:29.520
>> Yes. >> Yes. Yes. >> Right. Thank you for correcting me. I appreciate that. >> The calendar. Yeah, the calendar. >> Oh, yes. The calendar. All right. So,

481
02:21:29.520 --> 02:21:46.560
the calendar is in your folder. So, the bylaws are written in that we hold meetings on the third Thursday of every month. So, that's kind of the default. And so you'll see that for almost every month that's the default

482
02:21:46.560 --> 02:22:01.359
that you see there. There is an exception for the annual meeting which is listed for August 8th. I believe it is. Sorry. >> Can I ask why you're doing it in August and not July? >> Because that's in their bylaws.

483
02:22:01.359 --> 02:22:17.439
Our bylaw is listed for August annual meeting. >> Okay. >> So >> I was just asking is there a reason why you have August instead of July? >> Yeah. So, and traditionally we've held it in the first week of of August. And

484
02:22:17.439 --> 02:22:32.720
so that's the reason the six is there. That's that's been the tradition. Um, you know, we could do it as one super long blobed meeting, but you're talking a really long meeting at that point. And

485
02:22:32.720 --> 02:22:49.920
so we had it at one point years ago um Rose but it got split because it was just too painful to do it all in one meeting. So that's that's the intention of of having the annual on the 6th and then the the regular meeting on the third Thursday of

486
02:22:49.920 --> 02:23:05.439
the month. There are a couple of months that the third Thursday of the month does not work and that is November we've got a challenge of parent teacher conferences are basically every Thursday of the

487
02:23:05.439 --> 02:23:22.720
month with the exception of Thanksgiving and so th Thanks Thanksgiving month November is going to be a problem you know we can do it on the middle school we can do it on the high school we can do it on the elementary school but that's going to possibly impact members

488
02:23:22.720 --> 02:23:39.520
here and certainly community at large. Option B is change it to a different week day if we do not want to do it on a day where there's parent teacher conferences involved for that month for the month of

489
02:23:39.520 --> 02:23:55.680
November. We could do a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Friday. Um or we can just leave it the third Thursday. So we don't need to make that decision today but you know it it's something that you

490
02:23:55.680 --> 02:24:13.439
need to be cognizant of. Um March is a challenge of parent teacher April a challenge of parent teacher as well that they interfere there's a parent teacher both those months on the third Thursday as well scheduled. So

491
02:24:13.439 --> 02:24:29.280
other than that, I believe everything else is the third Thursday of the month. Um so the what we can do is a couple things. We cannot even vote on this and just go, look, it's third Thursday for now, and that's fine because we're covered by

492
02:24:29.280 --> 02:24:45.120
bylaws. Um, or we can just say, hey, let's let's use the let's use the dates as listed on the form. And then if we decide we want to change a date at a later time, we can obviously do a vote in subsequent

493
02:24:45.120 --> 02:25:02.080
months. I would I would think that's probably the best option is just vote and approve it just so we have it on the record and then as a group if we decide we want to change one of the dates because of the parent teacher conferences from what's listed there, we can certainly do that.

494
02:25:02.080 --> 02:25:17.760
So >> August, >> yeah, >> the August 6 would just be um because we're, you know, already explained having the two dates. >> So the August 6 would be just for the um all intents purposes of having an

495
02:25:17.760 --> 02:25:35.200
election. >> Yes, it's annual meeting. Yes. And if anyone is traveling during the month of August 20th, >> um the the meeting will just still take place. There's no way that we can you

496
02:25:35.200 --> 02:25:51.520
guys are saying it's way too long. >> Yeah. So I wanted to I wanted to just you know uh put it to the council for July and based on what we discussed before at the at the previous meeting is

497
02:25:51.520 --> 02:26:06.160
for July we were thinking of maybe not having a presenter so we can talk uh you know we talked about in the in the Ramipo training that it's you know having these packed um agenda sometimes

498
02:26:06.160 --> 02:26:22.800
could be a lot So we this has been brought up uh before where just not have a presenter on July. Um we can also we can have that option for August as well. Not have a presenter. Now if there's

499
02:26:22.800 --> 02:26:39.920
some a topic or or something that you guys think it's you know very uh important to have in August or July then that's up to the council. But I I for one can't do August 20th. I would really

500
02:26:39.920 --> 02:26:56.880
um I I I think we can it's manageable to do all three meetings in one day if there's no topic. Um but it's again up to the council if you want to do separate dates but um you know August at the end of August um there's regions

501
02:26:56.880 --> 02:27:12.000
going on too. So I just I like for me I can't. So, I just wanted to see if maybe we could do it at the beginning of August if you want to do split or we could just do one not have a topic and just do the annual and the um the

502
02:27:12.000 --> 02:27:35.680
calendar and business meeting and one in one shot. But I mean it's up to you guys. >> We have no topic then the time would be it could work. So, um, an August 6th date could work to have

503
02:27:35.680 --> 02:27:53.439
>> one meeting versus two meetings for the month of August. Um, and I know that people do vacation at some point. I'm sure people need to get away. >> And um, if if we don't and we overload, I think there's a risk of also not

504
02:27:53.439 --> 02:28:10.160
meeting quorum at times. And I think people, you know, it may have to So, it's something to think about, but I think one meeting in August versus two >> sounds a little bit more realistic.

505
02:28:10.160 --> 02:28:28.319
Any other any other comments about the dates in general? >> Um because also like for our work usually that's um summer

506
02:28:28.319 --> 02:28:53.760
vacation it's starting um after middle of August. So yeah. You're going to have a station, right? You're going to be here. So, >> Ron, you want to say? >> Yeah. You I think seeing this crap.

507
02:28:53.760 --> 02:29:10.240
Yeah. Um, so if you have, you know, that summer's is coming. There's a lot happening in summer. Yeah. Especially the kid and you have nowhere to go. for 12 month and the school the middle

508
02:29:10.240 --> 02:29:26.399
of uh August they all finish >> 12 finish August 14 it would be nice to have dates that are in line with the extended school year for the summer right >> that would be nice and these dates don't necessarily do this

509
02:29:26.399 --> 02:29:42.479
>> and and depending on the program those dates are different for the yeah extended school year so >> extended school year there's four different end dates Well, four there's basically I'll call it four different programmatic dates of

510
02:29:42.479 --> 02:29:58.479
which there's like three technically different dates for those four programs. So that go on during the summer. So yeah, it's it's nothing's ever aligned in this building other than September 10 is when we start school for everybody. Um so I'm hearing August 6th do an

511
02:29:58.479 --> 02:30:14.880
all-in meeting. Is is that what I'm hearing correctly? >> That is what my ears hear too. August 6 like leaning towards an August 6 >> doing an allin an annual then calendar then business >> to do everything instead of having two

512
02:30:14.880 --> 02:30:55.200
meetings within one month. >> You want to have two meetings in one month. Yeah, >> it'll move quicker. >> Thank you. >> The only thing I'm looking at that is is like y'all haven't meet in like a week

513
02:30:55.200 --> 02:31:14.880
and a half, right? Back to back. What are you going to have to discuss a week and a half back to back? Two hours. >> The meeting is July 16th. Then they're saying August 6th would be the next meeting. So you have the July means July

514
02:31:14.880 --> 02:31:30.960
16th. Then the next meeting would be August 6th and then we get to our September meeting. >> No, I'm just saying they say have one big meeting on the 6. So if I'm just saying from the 16th to the 6th, what

515
02:31:30.960 --> 02:31:48.399
are you going to have to talk about with no? >> I think it would be focused on the elections. The elections, the annual is the main crux of it. I guess >> it's up to you. I don't know.

516
02:31:55.920 --> 02:32:10.399
Joanne, can you hit the hold the button down please? >> My travel dates and stuff bits in between this. So, so far so good. My tickets are good so far in between these days. I have a wedding the next day. I

517
02:32:10.399 --> 02:32:26.000
fly out in between these days. So, as long as we as long as we have six people here in person, Joanne, you can be remote if that's what >> No, I'm fine. I I'm present. I'm fine.

518
02:32:26.000 --> 02:32:43.040
My travel dates is good. My grandson birthday is the 5th. I'm good. My wedding is the My friend's wedding is the 7th. I fly out for the other grandson on the 19th to go to Disney. We back on the 25th. I'm good. the mic. So,

519
02:32:43.040 --> 02:33:00.880
I am not going to be here August 20th. I'm not going to be here. I haven't missed a meeting yet. I um I don't know. I I' I'd put it up to council to see if that works for everyone realistically to have two meetings summertime. I know

520
02:33:00.880 --> 02:33:16.479
we're saying this now. We're in the month of what what are we in right now? >> June. >> So, it's June right now. August, people start feeling very different when the sun is out, the beaches are open, and not everyone is willing to, okay, I'm

521
02:33:16.479 --> 02:33:32.399
going to travel all the way down to Manhattan twice for the month, and we still have children to raise on. >> I just have a question. So, every council does it different. For the election,

522
02:33:32.399 --> 02:33:47.520
you have to be present if you're running for a position, >> right? Right. >> Yes. Exactly. That's true. That's true. >> So if you intend to run for something, you're going to have to be present. So >> yes, that's true. >> You got I'm just saying. So either way,

523
02:33:47.520 --> 02:34:03.600
you got to make your mind set. So whatever day they doing the election, they doing it on the six. You got to make your mind set. Either you're going to be here or you're not. Or what are you going to do? So >> you commit it, you commit it. If you're not, you're not. That's basically the bottom line,

524
02:34:03.600 --> 02:34:19.120
>> which is why we're discussing it now. So, if we're going to plan to have we're planning ahead. So, if we're going to have that meeting August 6, we're going to return back for August 20th. I mean, I'm glad it works out for your grandson and everybody else, but that might not

525
02:34:19.120 --> 02:34:36.720
be everyone's personal calendar. I don't know. You guys have the mic, too. But for me, I'd prefer to travel here once for the month, as I have been committed to do, and I haven't missed the meeting yet.

526
02:34:36.720 --> 02:34:53.760
So >> August 6 is my birthday. So I'll >> Happy birthday. >> No, I'll be coming in regardless. But I am demanding birthday cake. >> Maybe the world's smallest birthday cake at this point with our budget of 25,000

527
02:34:53.760 --> 02:35:12.800
after all. >> BC. There we go. All right. So, it sounds like the the biggest contention of all the dates on the calendar listed is the August. And right now, we've got August 6 as the annual. We've got August 20th as the

528
02:35:12.800 --> 02:35:31.840
calendar business. Rose, the election would be on the 6th. That's the annual meeting. Rose, leave the rest. Yeah, because we can we can leave everything else because we can

529
02:35:31.840 --> 02:35:48.080
come back at September mean I mean October, November, th October is fine because it's the third Thursday of the month that it fits our bylaws even September is fine. Um it's really the August that we have a discussion right now really to worry about.

530
02:35:48.080 --> 02:36:03.439
So >> I agree, but I mean I find that a lot of initiatives and planning and structure could take place in the summer when we're not bustling around. >> Well, that's with our kids and and etc. >> That's what Maggie's comment about the

531
02:36:03.439 --> 02:36:21.120
Ramapo meeting that was had about using July as an internal meeting for the calendar and not having a presenter. So we can talk about what's the plan for this next fiscal year for CCSC. What's the strategy? And that can roll

532
02:36:21.120 --> 02:36:38.640
into August as well and should roll into August as well. What are we doing to prepare for the school year as a CCSC? What are the objectives of CCSC that support our students, families, schools? we can create new initiatives and make

533
02:36:38.640 --> 02:36:52.640
>> move forward as a >> we can also use that time in August as well because I don't think I mean or what presenter what topic would you would you because we need to get on that if we have a topic in mind that you you

534
02:36:52.640 --> 02:37:13.280
guys want to have us um kind of like uh confirm for August then we need we need that ASAP but >> we we have a list I don't think we need a presenter for the summer. I think we need to just restructure, get what we need to get in

535
02:37:13.280 --> 02:37:29.520
place for us so that by September, we're good to go to roll out and do whatever we need to do. >> So, can we just leave it on the 6th and just call it a day for those three meetings? Because I know Ron has to go. So,

536
02:37:29.520 --> 02:37:45.600
>> so the proposal is keep July as it's listed third Thursday, keep September 3rd Thursday, keep October 3rd Thursday as in those are all bylaws. The question is August. Do we do the annual and on

537
02:37:45.600 --> 02:38:02.160
August 6th? Do we do the annual, the calendar, and the business mean on August 6th, or do we do the calendar and business meet on August 20th, the third Thursday of the month? So we we can have a roll call vote if we want and you can say all on the 6th or

538
02:38:02.160 --> 02:38:18.399
you can say the 6th and the 20th. We can go round one and see what it looks like if we want to do that and then we'll see where we are as a collective and decide what we do going forward. I mean ultimately if we don't make a decision it's August 20th as the calendar

539
02:38:18.399 --> 02:38:33.120
business because that is the that's the bylaws right? So that's if we can't agree on anything then it automatically defaults to 3rd Thursday which is the 20th for business calendar.

540
02:38:33.120 --> 02:38:51.200
So if there is a motion to vote on I mean it I don't think we even need to vote on July September October unless someone disagrees and please voice because it's third Thursday of the month and it aligns to every the calendar. So we don't need to vote on that. It's really August

541
02:38:51.200 --> 02:39:05.040
from my perspective, unless anyone disagrees. So I think the question would be, is there a motion to vote on the annual calendar business meetings? And if so, when Rose does roll call, please

542
02:39:05.040 --> 02:39:21.680
say annual on the 6th, calendar on the 20th, calendar business on the 20th, or please say annual calendar business on whatever day you want. >> Yes. So, I'll make a motion that we uh go ahead and vote on the August the

543
02:39:21.680 --> 02:39:38.800
month of August for the citywide council special education meeting schedule um regarding August 6 and August 20th. >> Okay, there's a motion. Is there a second to to do a roll call vote on scheduling for August? Ron, you're shaking your head. Cindy,

544
02:39:38.800 --> 02:39:56.399
you're reaching. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Thank you. All in favor of voting via roll call on scheduling the annual calendar business. >> I >> I opposed. Abstain. Okay. Rose, can you

545
02:39:56.399 --> 02:40:18.439
please do a roll call again? Please state the date you'd like annual calendar and business meeting. >> Yes. No. August 6 meeting. Can you come back to me?

546
02:40:19.840 --> 02:40:45.080
>> Um, I I'm fine with August 6th for for all three meetings. >> Um, five August 6th and August 20. I'm fine. I'm fine with August 6 for all three annual annual calendar and business meeting.

547
02:40:46.160 --> 02:41:06.000
>> Yes, I am clear for the August 6, 2026 annual calendar and business meetings. >> Anita here. I am okay with um having August 6th as the

548
02:41:06.000 --> 02:41:42.600
meeting for calendar business and etc. >> As long as we have subcommittee meetings in August. >> Yes. >> One sec. I'm sorry. One second. All right. >> Happy birthday. Gonna celebrate you.

549
02:41:52.479 --> 02:42:20.960
>> I want to say I'm good for August 6. I just was just trying to double check. All right, that's six for six people all August 6. Okay. So then August 6th will be all

550
02:42:20.960 --> 02:42:38.040
three meetings. We will not schedule a presenter on August 6 to give the council time to do internal discussions and then they'll also help us prepare for September meetings forward. No

551
02:42:40.080 --> 02:42:56.479
>> for sorry Mark >> August 6 >> for for November though for November >> we'll have to come back to November. I know. I know. But >> yeah, we could do November 19th in case you know. Um I know Ron, you need to go so I don't want to keep you. But

552
02:42:56.479 --> 02:43:13.280
>> November 19th is a parent teacher conference date as is the 5th as is Yeah there's >> I don't see that here though. Where? Uh oh, yeah, it is. >> Yeah, it's there. Every November h every Thursday in November has something going

553
02:43:13.280 --> 02:43:28.960
on. And we'll just have to figure it out between now and and October. >> It would have to. >> No, we'll do that. We'll do that at a subsequent meeting. We're not doing that now. >> Yep. All right. So, we are done now with with the votes we need to do. Ron, thank you for staying extra time. Apologize,

554
02:43:28.960 --> 02:43:57.359
but thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Thursday. >> Yes. If we don't want to interfere. Okay. Okay. Okay. We

555
02:43:57.359 --> 02:44:13.840
all right. We We still have six. So, we still at quorum. Ron, thank you. >> Thank you, Ron. >> Best wishes for the last week and a couple days of the end of the school year for you and your family. >> Yes, Anita. Sorry, Anita is the PA. Pointy.

556
02:44:13.840 --> 02:44:38.399
>> We did. We did. We We did this. We did start. >> All right. We are >> for you. What's that? Rose. >> Oh, okay. Yeah. All right. We're all right. We are

557
02:44:38.399 --> 02:45:00.479
now back to the top of the agenda which is uh part three approval of the March, April May. >> Yeah, we need quorum to be able to do that and we have forum now. So, >> couple of things that there

558
02:45:00.479 --> 02:45:16.160
if you haven't looked over the minutes, please if you need a few seconds, please do. Um, we have absences on all three. So, we do need to to acknowledge the absences and talk about the absences. >> Okay. I did notice something for

559
02:45:16.160 --> 02:45:31.760
Thursday, March 26. >> Yes. >> Um, I'm seeing that a member is listed here as a virtual attendee, but they were not. So, maybe that was a mistake. Where's Rose?

560
02:45:31.760 --> 02:45:49.840
>> Rose out quickly. So, we'll have to wait till she's back to to see. >> So, that may be a typo, but that was an absence. So, that's why I'm not sure if that may have been >> virtual, >> but the person was not virtually any

561
02:45:49.840 --> 02:46:07.439
>> if if a person was. So how the rules work if the person was virtual and you had quorum in person then they are present from a from a face standpoint as long as they were there for any amount

562
02:46:07.439 --> 02:46:22.240
of time during the calendar meeting they would be classified by face as present. Um, Susie is saying she did not see the person who's listed as virtual in the Zoom.

563
02:46:22.240 --> 02:46:40.319
Rose would have in her version of Zoom, she would have a timestamp for everybody who enters and exits the room. So, we would have to go to Rose and see what the time stamp said. Um, so each person who enters the room, it shows what time

564
02:46:40.319 --> 02:46:57.920
they entered in front of the abuse. >> So because this was just last month, I did see because I'm seeing here the business meeting was called at 7:45 when the business meeting was adjourned probably about 7 to 8 minutes out.

565
02:46:57.920 --> 02:47:16.240
That's when um member had logged on to Zoom. So I'll ask Rose. Rose can check. So, Rose, um Susie has a question about the member who is listed as virtual for March.

566
02:47:16.240 --> 02:47:33.840
>> Yeah, Thursday, March 26, 6:32 for the calendar meeting and then also for 7:45. Um, this is for the business meeting because we didn't see that person online

567
02:47:33.840 --> 02:47:59.520
until 7 to 8 minutes before um adjournment because I know we didn't have uh court during that meeting March 26. Mark said that you have the listener the

568
02:47:59.520 --> 02:48:26.319
>> Okay. Or the time the times that correct the um person that's listed as virtual was absent. So Mark said that you actually have a time stamp of Okay. Because that was the thing, the

569
02:48:26.319 --> 02:48:42.560
6:32 calendar meeting and the 7:45 business meeting. We're seeing two virtual markings here. Um, when the person actually logged on, I think that was at 7 to 10 minutes before adjournment in the business

570
02:48:42.560 --> 02:49:02.240
meeting. >> So, Rose, do you have those timestamps with you or is that something you'd have at at the system? Okay. So, why don't we we need a a motion to table the March 26th vote. I would

571
02:49:02.240 --> 02:49:18.399
suggest that we table it so Rose can look at the timestamps for both the calendar and the business meeting just to confirm the dates and then Rose can report back to us at the next meeting. Yeah. Yeah. That's

572
02:49:18.399 --> 02:49:33.200
all right. So, we'll need a motion to table it, but let's let's talk about the other ones and we can do a tableabling all at once if we need to. >> Another March. >> Yes. >> April, May.

573
02:49:33.200 --> 02:49:53.040
>> Uh, I I don't know if we reviewed February, did we? Because I don't remember >> February's agenda. >> We'd have to double check. I'd have to double check the uh I think we did but

574
02:49:53.040 --> 02:50:10.439
>> the reason for the question is because of the absences. So I just wanted to know >> the absences. >> Yes, that's what I that was the question that I wanted to pose and maybe that goes to

575
02:50:26.479 --> 02:50:42.720
Um, so at the March mean we approve the February minutes on page two of the March. >> Yeah. >> It says there was a roll call vote on the minutes for of February 12th. Nine members eligible to vote. Seven voted

576
02:50:42.720 --> 02:50:59.600
yes to abstain. So the minutes were accepted for February according to the draft minutes here because these are not official until we approve them. But the draft minutes say that we did approve February's minutes

577
02:50:59.600 --> 02:51:14.160
at the March meeting. >> Jessica is the secretary. So is there somebody else doing the notes today? >> Franchesca is the secretary, right? >> Correct. Rose >> Rose they'll they'll be I mean that's why we have the

578
02:51:14.160 --> 02:51:42.600
>> that's why we have the video. So yes AI is not used for that part but >> I can't hear you. Um >> Joanna can you hit the button? That's so Susie, what's the question? So we understand what direction you're going. So

579
02:51:46.399 --> 02:52:01.520
>> sorry, the question that I had is because if you're approving meeting minutes, I just wanted to know about these absences. Were any of these absences excused or >> So for which month? We go month one month at a time. So you're saying for

580
02:52:01.520 --> 02:52:16.240
March you your belief is that the individual listed as virtual was not present for the calendar meeting and that the per as I heard you if I'm hearing it correctly you said that the person was only there for the last 10

581
02:52:16.240 --> 02:52:41.359
minutes of the business meeting. Okay, wait a minute. Now I realize that is May. May actually not March but May. So May is the meeting that I'm actually

582
02:52:41.359 --> 02:52:59.600
referencing because that was last month um for the month. >> She's marked absent not excused. >> Yeah. All right. So that's my question still stands. Are any of these absences excused?

583
02:52:59.600 --> 02:53:15.840
>> Well, if it's if it's listed as absent, then the point is it's not excused unless the council votes to excuse or there's some other reason that it cropped up. So, the question is

584
02:53:15.840 --> 02:53:33.120
for if we're talking May still, Susie, we're talking May. Okay. May Dr. Canton was not here for the entirety or for any part of the meetings. So was there an

585
02:53:33.120 --> 02:53:53.840
was there an email or text that was or call that was sent by Dr. Canton? So the text that I receive I was sharing with Mark that I don't know if that counts as an excused or not. Um

586
02:53:53.840 --> 02:54:08.960
there was there was a mention of of work and that and that Dr. Zai uh wanted to attend and try to attend. Um that is why

587
02:54:08.960 --> 02:54:25.680
uh I believe it's better to and that's up to the council, right? We it was brought up before months ago about voting on the to to do excused or unexcused absences. Um and that just

588
02:54:25.680 --> 02:54:45.040
holds us accountable as a council. Um because like you know it's it's just a matter of like okay you know we're going to vote we're going to hold these each other accountable. We're going to vote on each other if we're absent or not and just not cuz cuz technically like uh

589
02:54:45.040 --> 02:55:02.479
state rags like that that's okay. Like if there's a work conflict and the the member can't attend because of a work conflict then that's that's excused. But um as a council, we have to decide

590
02:55:02.479 --> 02:55:19.520
if that's how we want to do it or if I mean it's in the I remember uh Joanne, you brought it up months ago about us as a council voting whether the absence is excused or un or not excused. So we

591
02:55:19.520 --> 02:55:36.479
haven't been doing that. So is that something like is is up to you guys whether you approve this or or Exactly. The thing is the absences if a message is given it's supposed to be shared the same day like yes like earlier today

592
02:55:36.479 --> 02:55:54.920
Francesca couldn't make it and stuff like that it was shared with us so we have the email to see so it's supposed to be technically it's supposed to be shared with the council so the council can see the message.

593
02:55:55.200 --> 02:56:13.760
I don't I don't think that I have the permission from the sender to share it with the council. >> Okay. But I'm just saying >> I'm saying what what what it was that was stated and so the person in question

594
02:56:13.760 --> 02:56:28.640
is not here. So >> the reason why I'm saying that is okay one >> work does happen. We all understand things happen. You do work. But if it's going to be a constant work issue and stuff like that, then you got to

595
02:56:28.640 --> 02:56:45.279
understand are you going to be able to serve or not going to be able to serve. Do you understand what I'm saying? I understand that, >> right? But >> as a council, we do have a right to see what is it just like Franchesca, she sent us an email today and she said what

596
02:56:45.279 --> 02:57:00.319
was going on, >> right? But that's not in our that's not specifically in our unfortunately that's not specifically in our bylaws and that is not in state Rex where even if the so you know one of the contentions has been

597
02:57:00.319 --> 02:57:17.279
well does do we get do we get um notice after or before in our bylaws it says 10:00 a.m. technically >> but it doesn't say >> it does but y'all supposed to share with us. >> That's not what it says there though. We're we're sharing that here. That's

598
02:57:17.279 --> 02:57:37.120
what we're discussing here. >> So, you received it. It was now >> I couldn't go on. You received it and we're talking about what is it? May. Now, it's June. A month later, you're

599
02:57:37.120 --> 02:57:53.040
sharing it. How do we know that message came in on May 28th at such and such time? We don't know that message. >> Neither neither Mark nor I have shared messages from council members before and

600
02:57:53.040 --> 02:58:08.640
that's that's not in our bylaws though. >> Is it in the by sorry is it in the bylaws to say does it say oh a message can be sent to the co-presidents and that will suffice? Does it say that in the bylaws? It doesn't say that. It said

601
02:58:08.640 --> 02:58:24.000
it says the I'm the >> it says the excuse the notification can be sent via email to the co-presidents secretary uh the recording secretary or email >> here's I just have a quick concern

602
02:58:24.000 --> 02:58:41.600
because I know according to the bylaws is that when you've missed three consecutive meetings that >> not consecutive three meetings over the two-year term three calendar meetings over the two-year term >> three consecutive absences is which includes the month of April, May, and

603
02:58:41.600 --> 02:58:58.720
now we're in June and no information has really been shared. We do see because Rose, you do such an amazing job with and we're seeing the excused absences as you pointed out, Mark, we know that these absences are excused because the message

604
02:58:58.720 --> 02:59:13.120
is shared with everyone. And when an email is shared, whether that person is ill or they have a family emergency, it's out of respect upon the council because we're really a team. We're

605
02:59:13.120 --> 02:59:30.080
members. And when you lack communication and just as we were speaking about this August 6 calendar meeting or whether or not we're going to have an August 20th meeting, we're all discussing it and

606
02:59:30.080 --> 02:59:45.359
we're all involved and it's important that we all have our input in what's going on to be respectful and to also make sure that we're we're meeting quorum because if we're not meeting quorum, we're failing as citywide

607
02:59:45.359 --> 03:00:01.520
council on special education and it's important that we have all members on board. If I know that I'm going to be absent, I have not missed the meeting before, I am going to make sure that I provide notice that I'm going to be

608
03:00:01.520 --> 03:00:19.439
traveling or you know just as I'm speaking about the August 20th date. I know something is coming up, I'm going to discuss it. The only time I can't communicate is when I'm stuck on the train, but I'm on the way and I'm going to be here. So, I think respectfully we

609
03:00:19.439 --> 03:00:36.240
do have to pay attention to what the bylaws say. And I do know that if you've missed three meetings and I believe it is consecutive >> and there is no excused absence and it's been discussed for the past few months that as a council

610
03:00:36.240 --> 03:00:53.120
we do take a vote and we decide whether or not This is looking habitual and if we're not receiving that communication as a council, there's a concern. If a member cannot serve

611
03:00:53.120 --> 03:01:11.279
and they fail to communicate, that's something that is of significance. >> I'd like to say that we are the CCSE and we are small. We are small and mighty really. All of us were chosen to be

612
03:01:11.279 --> 03:01:28.720
here, selected because we all come with certain background, specialties, uh expertise. So all of us are needed. It's important to encourage um you know being present.

613
03:01:28.720 --> 03:02:38.880
Go ahead, Rose. Sorry that Yeah. And that's how you're talking about whether that's So I know that it this is a topic of discussion that's happened a few times.

614
03:02:38.880 --> 03:02:56.479
The last meeting that took place I think it was about quorum which is why the meeting actually ended early. And this is the premise behind the attendance because when we don't have our members present, that's gonna

615
03:02:56.479 --> 03:03:12.399
>> the way we do business. And Heather was here and Heather wanted to um they really wanted to move forward and and have a vote, but we didn't have the ability to do that because we didn't have the members present. So it does

616
03:03:12.399 --> 03:03:28.319
impact us when we cannot do business. So it it's something that has been discussed and um and still even at that point even with all members present and and

617
03:03:28.319 --> 03:03:46.080
speaking about um things as excused absences, unexcused absences, I don't know how many days you wait, but I think that communication is still important because if every other member is able to communicate

618
03:03:46.080 --> 03:04:04.960
Why is only one member being excused all the time from not having to communicate? >> Go ahead. >> Okay, so I found the bylaws and this is what it says. Section six absence and this is um CEC

619
03:04:04.960 --> 03:04:20.240
bylaws October 5th, 2023. It is the responsibility of each council member to attend all meetings of the council. It is incredible upon all council members except in the case of

620
03:04:20.240 --> 03:04:36.080
emergency to notify a co-president or the secretary to the council by 10:00 a.m. on the day of the scheduled meeting time of their intent to be absent. This notification may be made by email or by

621
03:04:36.080 --> 03:04:53.359
telephone to the co-president and or recorder secretary. Any me member of the council who fails to attend three public meetings of the council of which she or he is duly notified without rendering and writing a

622
03:04:53.359 --> 03:05:11.279
good or valid excuse therefore to the council's pres co-president vacates his or her office by refusal to serve then we go into the law educational law section 259

623
03:05:11.279 --> 03:05:27.840
See each written excused and absence noted as excused or unexcused should be included within the official written minutes of each such meeting. So that's why I said it has to

624
03:05:27.840 --> 03:05:43.200
be provided to us. So that's why I said it has to be in the minutes. After the second unexcused absent, the administrator assistant will give the member the courtesy of a notice either

625
03:05:43.200 --> 03:05:59.279
written or a telephone that they risk vacating they see on the council upon the third unexcused absent. In the event of the third unexcused absent, the co-president with the approval of the

626
03:05:59.279 --> 03:06:16.000
council shall notify in writing the absent and unexcused member that the council shall declare a vacancy to the chancellor by resolution at its next regular scheduled calendar meeting and

627
03:06:16.000 --> 03:06:31.920
then it goes into the chancellor resol reds. So this is the current bylaws that y'all have on that I just read. >> So let me talk about chancellor's regulations because chancellor's

628
03:06:31.920 --> 03:06:48.640
regulations supersede our bylaws. And so chancellor's reggg D150 part I is vacancies. we get to subset one. Well, first of all, we'll do one is

629
03:06:48.640 --> 03:07:05.680
parent member and public advocate appointee vacancies. And then A is CCSC members um who within their term of office, which is what Joanne says, refuse or neglect to attend three regularly scheduled monthly meetings of the CCSC

630
03:07:05.680 --> 03:07:20.560
of which they were properly notified without rendering a written valid excuse. shall deem to have vacated their office. Then it gets to point one. Each absence and any written excuse provided shall be included in the official

631
03:07:20.560 --> 03:07:36.319
minutes of that meeting. Part two, here's where we need to listen. Please listen to this part especially. The following constitute valid excuses for absence. Death of a relative or attendance at a relative's funeral.

632
03:07:36.319 --> 03:07:53.600
Serious illness or injury of CCSE member or family member. Mandatory co court court attendance including jury duty, military duty, jobreated conflict which makes absence from CCS meeting unavoidable

633
03:07:53.600 --> 03:08:10.080
and other reasons the CCSE deems appropriate. Such other reasons may be deemed valid provided they are delivered in writing to the CCSE no later than 15 days after the absence and are approved

634
03:08:10.080 --> 03:08:26.800
by vote of the CCSE at the next regularly scheduled monthly meeting where quorum is present. So the challenge that I have in point two there is that it says jobreated conflict which makes absence from CCSC meeting

635
03:08:26.800 --> 03:08:44.240
unavoidable. And then it later talks about 15 days from the absence. So how I am interpreting that is if a member misses a meeting because of a job related, they have 15 days to notify.

636
03:08:44.240 --> 03:09:01.439
And if we need to vote if there is a we don't need to vote for that because that's in the chancellor's regulations. we'd only need to vote for other reasons that the CCSC deems appropriate and would were given within 15 days written notice. >> But then that's when I said to Maggie

637
03:09:01.439 --> 03:09:15.840
just now >> and that's why I was saying if it's jobreated, >> if it's going to be a continuous issue, then you got to figure out if this is going to be too much on your plate and you balance them both out. You know what

638
03:09:15.840 --> 03:09:31.120
I'm saying? Like that. And that's why I said I'm not knocking you saying that you can't work and do what you got to do. But if we need you here to vote or we need you here for something, then you yo, you're making it hard for us. So,

639
03:09:31.120 --> 03:09:47.680
it's got to figure out what's best. I'm not, you know what I'm saying? We need you here. You know, your job needs you there. So, you can't be two places. So, what what is it going to be? That's where you got to tie the line. And I and I was just and then I paused and then

640
03:09:47.680 --> 03:10:02.399
you know you jumped in with the chancellor and that's where it is like for instance you know I could have easily said I couldn't come today you know my grandma just passed but I know I need me here because of this and I know I needed to get out the house as well.

641
03:10:02.399 --> 03:10:17.680
So you know but at the end of the day >> that's a but if it's going to be every month then we got to figure something out. >> Yeah. I mean it's >> this is the other thing that I was just going to say the last time we had the

642
03:10:17.680 --> 03:10:34.640
member here was January 15th. January 15th was the last time the member was present. So that's why that is why I was I was again bringing it back to the council that we have that

643
03:10:34.640 --> 03:10:56.160
option uh and we have and we have the bylaws committee um >> I'm going to mention a bottom >> because we we have that option that's why it wasn't puted there um to hold each other account each of us

644
03:10:56.160 --> 03:11:11.600
accountable because it's different when the council is voting on whether it's an excused or unexcused absence. It's just holding each other accountable. So that's an option that that the council has. And in terms again of the notification,

645
03:11:11.600 --> 03:11:26.479
it could be made by email or by telephone to the co-presidents. So, sorry, Rose. I was just reading of the of the bylaws, but um it's in the bylaws it says by 10:00 a.m. in

646
03:11:26.479 --> 03:11:42.319
the chancellor's res. So, that's why it's like we have our bylaws to hold each other accountable, but we also have, you know, we don't have it's it superseded the chancellor's rag

647
03:11:42.319 --> 03:11:58.960
supersedes. So, we as a council have to decide how we're going to hold each other accountable with the absences because I agree that it's not fair. Each of us have uh our our stuff that we're going through and we're still here.

648
03:11:58.960 --> 03:12:24.640
So, but we have again we have that option of having it uh as a separate item on the agenda and having us vote each and every month whether an absence is or isn't excused. One of the one of the excuses that we

649
03:12:24.640 --> 03:12:41.359
don't have a vote that is law that's policy we don't get to vote on we don't get to vote on family member mandatory attendance military we don't get to vote on that >> is in the regulations we can't supersede regulations

650
03:12:41.359 --> 03:12:56.319
>> I agree but then when it comes recurring to their point. That's when it becomes a problem because because when one person can do it, everybody else can do it and then and then we don't have quorum and then we don't do business and then we don't move on. So

651
03:12:56.319 --> 03:13:13.040
>> this affects our job. >> So we're going to leave it up to the member or is the council going to decide? Truth of the matter, it's not up to just that individual because the individual is showing the council that for the past five months they haven't

652
03:13:13.040 --> 03:13:28.319
made any attempt to come here to the tweet building and we all have. We've had our newest member here, Cindy. And um and since she's been here, I don't I that's why I know we haven't had this

653
03:13:28.319 --> 03:13:46.080
member again. And that's why it's just not fair to everybody else. >> It's hurting the community by not having all of our members here. I mean, I my concern is we need all of our members to show up every week because we're here to serve the community. Sorry, every month.

654
03:13:46.080 --> 03:14:02.239
Pardon me. Thank you. We We need to serve the community. That's why we signed up for this. That was we Yes, we're giving up our time for free, but we're doing it because we want to serve our community and we need all of our members to be here every month. I know we're pressed for time. So, >> yes, we are pressed.

655
03:14:02.239 --> 03:14:19.120
>> My thing is so to circle back to this so we could put this on the action item for July and discuss possibly ask Rose to draft up a letter to send to the member to ask her.

656
03:14:19.120 --> 03:14:34.080
>> I guess we just got to figure out how we're going to word this letter. Um, I guess we could discuss this via email and figure this out as an action item and I'm also bringing to the table that

657
03:14:34.080 --> 03:14:50.000
I said we was going to pause the bylaws committee. We're going to get it started since this is the summer. So, we're going to get it started for July because we don't have nothing going, no um real meetings. So, let's bring it back and let's get it started and we'll put that

658
03:14:50.000 --> 03:15:06.000
on as an action item for July as well. >> Great. So, let's let's if you can work with Rose, find a date and we'll get it the date out to the community. Also, if you have any committee meetings between now and our July meme, please get that to Rose or all of July for that matter

659
03:15:06.000 --> 03:15:21.920
or even if you got August, please get that date those dates to Rose so Rose can publish those. >> Okay, no problem. >> My my suggestion is we're at 10:00. Do we want to table the rest of the agenda at this point? >> And we've got time on July. >> Wait, wait. Before we before we do that,

660
03:15:21.920 --> 03:15:37.760
I want to just just make sure I'm understanding correctly right with your suggestion with the letter. Are we are like as a council, are we going to do the voting for the absences or or we prefer not to do that and

661
03:15:37.760 --> 03:15:52.960
rather go with the letter? Because as of right now, the item that we have is we're approving or amending the the M minutes. So we have uh May is marked absent and April is marked absent. Now if we approve

662
03:15:52.960 --> 03:16:09.120
>> June is absent too. >> Sorry, >> but she's not here. >> Well, yes. So what I'm saying is here's what I'm saying. So we are if our if if we want to amend if we want to approve as is absent

663
03:16:09.120 --> 03:16:24.399
>> we're table but the thing about it is you got to remember Maggie her reasons that you're telling us as co-president you're telling the councils that you're getting a message is about work >> but it wasn't it wasn't that's what I'm

664
03:16:24.399 --> 03:16:40.160
saying I don't know if it counts because it wasn't specific it was only to It wasn't it it states that it's both co-presidents. That's why I'm saying I leave it up to the council. >> So with that being iffy the safest route

665
03:16:40.160 --> 03:16:57.040
we need to go at this present time, we need to figure out some type of letter. >> We have it. If we vote >> know that >> as council, we need to know >> where do you stand as a council member?

666
03:16:57.040 --> 03:17:12.560
Basically, we just >> but right >> we just need to know where you stand >> right but also for future not not just her but for future I want really the council to think about we have this tool are we going to use it or not >> yes we're going to >> and if not then let's take it out from

667
03:17:12.560 --> 03:17:28.800
the bylaws because >> don't work on the bylaws we're going to work it put it the proper way and also when we get information for a council member that's um got an excuse or whatever Rose is going to get it and it's going to be put in minutes. It's going to be

668
03:17:28.800 --> 03:17:44.239
done officially so that >> he's been doing that. It's that's why the meeting but that's where we could discuss. You know what I mean? >> No, not just say excuse the reason >> no message has to be in the bylaws in the minutes. >> If it's in the bylaws then we whatever

669
03:17:44.239 --> 03:17:59.840
the bylaw >> in the minutes >> but it but it's not being addressed to the council. And I >> it doesn't say to be addressed to the council. It says to be addressed to the co-president. If there's if no one if no one is privy to the information, it it's like it didn't happen. It didn't exist

670
03:17:59.840 --> 03:18:14.319
>> that >> because if we're not being informed as a council >> or you're being informed now. >> So that's Susie. That's why the suggestion is we can alter the bylaws because right now the bylaws say only communicate >> right

671
03:18:14.319 --> 03:18:31.200
>> to a co-president. >> Yeah. It says, it says, it says, >> tell the co-president and the secretary, which we're going to change because we got to include roles. And then it says, um, put in the minutes. So, we're going

672
03:18:31.200 --> 03:18:46.399
to reward that after the co-president and the note, we want to put in that the message is for it to the council by the end of the business day or by the day of the meeting. So, we'll know if we're going to have quarrel. and then

673
03:18:46.399 --> 03:19:04.640
also put documented in our ballots. I mean in our minutes. It's late. It's 10 o'clock. >> Is there is there a motion to table the rest of the agenda? >> Well, we I think that this should be something that's placed into the agenda for >> It would be It will be for July. Yes.

674
03:19:04.640 --> 03:19:22.120
>> Specifically, but we should specifically have that. >> We will have a line. >> Make a suggestion to the agenda at any time also. >> Yes. and I'm gonna reach out to Rose and we're going to set up something for the bylaws and to bylaws meeting and stuff to get it going.

675
03:19:26.319 --> 03:19:50.000
>> Yeah. So, anyone can submit to Rose agenda items at any time. All you have to do is email Rose, hey, I want to have this added to the agenda and Rose will put it on the agenda. So, that's that's for any meeting. Yeah. Yeah.

676
03:19:50.000 --> 03:20:06.560
>> No. So, just housekeeping like any any notifications, any emails, anything. Just copy both of us and Rose. >> Yeah. I mean, I the ideal world is copy every council member, right? That's that's the ideal world. But again, that's something we can change the

677
03:20:06.560 --> 03:20:21.279
bylaws because right now it's not in the bylaws. >> Wait. Thank you, Joanne. >> Yes. All right. Do we do we have a motion to table the rest of the agenda? >> Yes. I make a motion that we table the rest of the business meeting agenda. We

678
03:20:21.279 --> 03:20:36.560
will pick up in the next meeting for July >> and cover this issue >> topic. Yes. All right. A second. >> Tama's online, but we we did invite her to speak anything. There's

679
03:20:36.560 --> 03:20:55.040
>> Tamika. She's profine. Is there a second to table? >> Making the motion, I guess, to >> There's a motion. Is there a second to the motion to table the rest of the agenda? >> Okay. All in favor of tableabling the rest of the business mean agenda. >> Okay.

680
03:20:55.040 --> 03:21:12.720
>> Okay. Opposed extensions. >> Tama. >> Hey. Hi. Good evening everyone. Um so uh I would love to uh just remind you guys um the 22nd is another session

681
03:21:12.720 --> 03:21:30.160
um for uh I don't know it's not know your rights it's um >> and there's a basis doing a training >> yeah we're doing another session the 22nd um >> I'll forward you >> for it's not know your rights but it's uh I think the human rights or something

682
03:21:30.160 --> 03:21:45.760
um that we're doing another session on And also, I would love to try to schedule a check-in with the council um before your next uh calendar business meeting if possible where I can

683
03:21:45.760 --> 03:22:03.439
little further discuss the the excuse or unexcused absences and um and that conversation that you guys are having as well so we can all have clarity around that. Tama, can you send out some times to all the council members that you're

684
03:22:03.439 --> 03:22:18.479
available? >> Not a problem. We'll do. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Tamika. >> No problem. >> Have a good evening. Thank you for sticking around. >> All right. >> All right. Motion to adjurnn. >> No, that's >> fine. Yeah. >> Motion to adjurnn.

685
03:22:18.479 --> 03:22:30.000
>> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> All right. Thank you everybody online. Thank you fellow council members here. Good night off.