Transcript: Mayor Adams, Chancellor Banks Unveil More Equitable Vision For Future Of New York City Public Schools With Signature Math Initiative And New Division Of Inclusive And Accessible Learning And Takes Q And A

June 24, 2024

Chris Gracia: Hola, yo soy Chris Garcia y soy un estudiante de cuarto grado aquí en Samara Community School. Bienvenidos a nuestra escuela donde todos los estudiantes aprenden tanto en español como en inglés. Estamos emocionados de tenerte aquí.

Leslie Olivier De Los Santos: Hello, my name is Leslie Oliver de los Santos and I am a fourth grade student here at Samara Community School. Welcome to our school where all of the students learn in both Spanish and English. We are so excited to have you here today. Now join me in welcoming New York City Mayor Eric Adams. 

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. As I‘m sitting here, Marcia, you know, I think about the times when I talked with the first deputy mayor when we were just sort of downloading together, and I say that you know history is going to be kind to us, you know when you look at what we have accomplished in the city. And she said, we‘re not going to wait for history, Eric. We’re going to tell our story now. We're going to tell our story now. 

The reason Chancellor Banks and his team wanted to change the books that our children read is because the authors do not look like them, do not know their narratives, and do not appreciate the diversity that comes with developing the full personhood of a child. That's what we're faced as an administration. Far too many people have bought into the narrative. It is unbelievable how successful we have been in the field of education, straddled in really dealing with all of the challenges that any administration could ever foresee. 

Normally you get one crisis, but we had two. We had COVID, and then we had to deal with 200,000 human beings that were trying to pursue the American Dream. In spite of all of that, we inherited a system where the previous administration paid and used temporary dollars for permanent programs. Summer Rising wasn't permanent. 

Our 3K, pre-K wasn't permanent. The dollars were sunsetting. We were paying for class seats and not bodies in the seat. All the onslaught. In spite of all of that, we sat down with the team and said we cannot fail children again. We had a system that failed children. It was a downstream mindset. We pushed our babies into the river, then we pulled them out downstream, and people made money off the dysfunctionality of the Department of Education for years. 

We knew that 30 to 40 percent of young men at Rikers Island were dyslexic, but we did nothing about it. You cannot ignore the fact because when the dysfunctionality of education, it impacts all children, but specifically Black and brown children. Why were we paying so much to educate our children, and we were getting a failed product year after year after year after year? I cannot help believe that if the educational system were failing children of other ethnicities, you would see a total dismantling of the educational system. 

We were [dispensable,] and I'm one of them as a child who was dyslexic, that didn't believe I could learn, thought I was dumb, and didn't see the reason of going to school. That is what we've done. These numbers before us are the facts. We're outpacing the state in reading and math. Outpacing the state. You got to look at the numbers. You have to really look at the numbers. His story is not our story. We are going to tell our story. I'm going to ask you, all of you, to start being the advocate for a school system that is working. 

Look across the globe, folks. All across the globe, the same demographic of children are failing. All across the globe. That is what we're up against and what we're fighting. That's what this chancellor is doing. We don't always get it right. We are not afraid to say let's try another way. We're not afraid to say we have to dig deeper and find solutions. It is mind-boggling to me that people are blaming us for the fiasco of the 3K pre-K. We inherited a mess. We inherited a mess. We inherited a mess of the food that we was feeding our children, that was feeding health care crises. I was the sole candidate on the campaign trail that said we're not removing school safety agents from our schools that protect our babies. That we heard from them over and over again that they wanted a better relationship with their school safety agents in the Police Department. 

Chancellor's building new schools. Improving the environments of the school climate in areas that were denied for so many years. Paying teachers the salaries they deserved. Paying them what they deserved. Leslie and Chris is an example of the product that we're producing. It is unbelievable that we believe children should only learn English in our school system. What are we thinking about? We have a city with all of these different nationalities, all of these different languages. The brain development of a child would acquire a different language at an early age better than waiting until they become an adult. We're not leaning into that. That's the arrogance of a European mindset that the only language that should be known is one language, English. These babies should learn all these different languages to communicate with each other. Huge challenges. I've been clear since day one. Go look at what I ran on. Public safety. Improving the lives of our children. Affordability. Building housing. Taking on these tough choices. 

I'm an urban mayor. There's never been an urban mayor. Where the heck did you ever see a bald-headed, earring-wearing mayor in the history of this city? Yes, I have an urban attitude. I come with, we know. I am you. I'm one of you. Blue-collar mayor. Blue-collar mayor. Know your struggles. Know what you're going through. Don't let the narrative hijack our success and what we have done. Particularly those of you who are educators. They break your spirit every day. You come in with all of the challenges of running your own personal lives. Then you have to come in the classroom and see babies who are coming from environments where they're struggling every day. 

Some of them are coming from the Darién Gap, making their way here to thousands of children that we are educating. Some of them are coming from domestic violence situations. Some of them are coming from homelessness. In spite of all of that, you have to find a way to make that child believe. That's what Ms. Pasternak did for me, my third-grade teacher. You're pouring into these children. You should be proud of that. Making our children world-class leaders is what this chancellor is inspired to do. We are here, and we know. Chancellor Banks and I don't know when the last time you had a chancellor and a mayor from the public school system. Came up through the public school system. If there's no greater indicator of what you could become, the chancellor of the largest school system in the country, and the mayor of the most important city on the globe, is public school educated. 

We're halfway through our run. Two and a half years of doing the impossible. People told us it was going to take how many years, Sheena? They said it was going to take five years. Five years to turn around the city. Look at us. Two and a half years. We've accomplished so much in the two and a half years, nothing is more important than what we've done here. I'm not new to this, I'm true to this. This woman sitting here, Lucina Clarke, back when I was state senator started the first task force about children with disabilities. We have been partners ever since. From my time in. In the fields. It was so important, it was not only professional, it was personal to me when we did dyslexia, universal dyslexia screening for all students. So we could identify early when they are experiencing learning disabilities. Can you imagine waking up every day and as you say your prayers, you're on your knees and say, God, please don't have me read so I won't be humiliated throughout the day. Right now there are babies in our school system who are little Erics of today who say that same prayer. What? You don't have to pray anymore about being untaught and unlearned because you learn differently. We're going to be there for you. We're proud that we have offered access to 42,000 seats for 3K education. 42,000. This [inaudible.]

This is a 300 percent increase than what we've had before. 300 percent increase. Go look at those numbers. Prior to us coming into office and we continue to work to ensure that every child who wants to see we get a seat. We didn't stop there. Summer Rising was sunsetting. The money was gone. It was no more money. They knew when they put in place that it was going to sunset in 2024. Is it let the next mayor worry about it. The average mayor would not have been able to come up with the right mindset to do so. All of those who want to be mayor don't know what it is to be mayor. 

110,000 students. All summer long stability to parents finding educational opportunities. We added 57 gifted and talented programs citywide because there are accelerated learners in school. Let's stop acting like it's not. Hurray to Chancellor Banks for not just going with the narrative and the majority the minority who yelled the loudest. Making sure we allow those accelerated learners to continue to excel and learn. We added over twenty six thousand classroom seats to major constructions and modern modernization. He's opening nine new schools and I hope we talk on some of those nine schools that he's opening. 

Nine new schools, expanded our dual language program recruited bilingual teachers and made it easier for teachers to get bilingual teaching certifications. Meaning we can now reach more multilingual like language students and they can talk to their classmates to learn their language at the same time. That is how you develop the full personhood of a child. Not only academically smart but emotionally intelligent to understand that we're in a universal world that we live in right now. You better be a universal leader of the future. Including a Future Ready NYC. 

In addition to offering our students a quality education we are creating programs that help young New Yorkers prepare for life after school. When the first thing Chancellor Banks said to me when I recruited him and interviewed him for eight years. Is when our children finish what did they earn? What is the return on our investment? Many of these babies you go to them in the 10th, 11th, 12th grade and they say I don't even know why I did this for all this time. 

We need to prepare them for life after school. That is what future ready NYC looks like. This work has resulted in students earning a cumulative $8.2 million from paid work experience at top companies over the past two years. This is good stuff. I was in co-op as a child. Went to school one week and then had a job the next week. So important. It took me out of South Jamaica Queens. It showed me why you tie a tire. How to shake hands. How to be in an environment where you feel uncomfortable and intimidated. How to understand what people expect from you. That is what this is all about. 

We have also partnered with New York City Kids RISE. We're really proud of this. First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and bringing the team together because when a college education, the children are more likely to attend college in the process. Early starting to see those college education was important. 

Allocated more than $30 million for college savings for more than 200,000 students. I remember last year or early this year. We went to Albany. Everyone was talking about how we would not get mayoral control. Renewed. I kept saying we're going to land the plane. Not only did they renew it, they put it in the budget. What everyone said was impossible to do. Governor Hochul was just a real partner. Making sure we continue the quality that we deserve. We want to thank the UFT and all of our lawmakers in Albany for understanding how important it was. 

Teachers were leaving here constantly because we were not paying them what they deserved. Settled the contract. 94 percent of our contracts we settled. We were getting 96 and 98 percent ratification rates. Union members, over 300,000 city employees would stop us all the time and say, finally someone understands that we deserve the pay for our family. We did it with the human service workers. Over and over again we understood we must lift up working class people. Because there's a working class mayor. We're now at a 95 percent retention rate for our teachers. That is an A. That is an A. These are just some of our accomplishments. Today we're here for a special one. 

The chancellor announced earlier with his New York City Education Read initiative that now the state is incorporating into statewide and I believe it's going to become a national model. Today we're announcing the creation of the Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning. Co-named that. Come here. Come give me that pom pom. All that energy. Why, why are you seeing that energy? 

This division, we're going to put $750 million, a $750 million budget that is in this whole body of work. 1,300 staff to elevate and support the needs of all of us. 1,300 staff to elevate and support the needs of multi-language learners and students with disabilities. We're bringing in a real leader in Christina Foti to handle this. 1,300. Those of you who have children. Just allow yourself, as Lucina Clarke has shared with me with My Time Inc. Visiting some of the parents with children with disabilities. 

We knew what was happening in these districts. We knew these children were not being prepared for tomorrow. Some of them were just caught in this spiraling decline. We knew it. We knew it. We allowed it to continue over and over again. With no real direction. That's the energy you're seeing. For so long, not only were the parents, but the educators who were in this space, knew we could and should and we had to do better. 

We're going to try. It's not going to be easy. We know that. Because there's a lot of distrust. You roll out programs and sometimes people feel as though we do it in a big hoopla and then it's not self-sustaining. We're going to give it our all. We've heard it over and over and over again. About this population of achievers who are not given the opportunity that they deserve. Every student can be prepared for a rewarding career and economic security. No matter their background or ability. This work will be guided by external voices through a new advisory council that will help shape support systems for immigrant students and their families, and aim to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for every child. Especially those who need the extra support. The fight is personal. 

Yes, it's professional, but it's personal. It's personal to many of us. That have gone through the feeling that you don't belong. You don't have a future. That there's no opportunity for you. We can turn this around. That's the facts that we are fighting for. That equality of opportunity is the mission of the heart of public education. From university pre-K to our selective high schools and technical training programs. New York City students have every opportunity in the world to learn, grow, and succeed. The cultural economic diversity of our school system is unmatched. Unmatched anywhere. The education is in that diversity, believe it or not. It's more than what's on the pages of the books. It's the stories and the narratives of the students who attend the schools. 

We're going to expand the educational experience outside the four walls of our buildings. They must know the systems that they live in. The communities that they live in. Folks, that's why we're seeing so much hate right now. That's why we're seeing so much anger. So much hate. Because our children have not explored their communities. They don't know what it's like to walk into a mosque, a synagogue, a Baptist church, a Buddhist temple. They don't know what someone's wearing a yarmulke, a hijab. They don't know what it is to have a turban. They don't sit down across the table. They know people who look like them, talk like them, eat the same food, listen to the same music, do the same thing. Many of our children live in one square mile their entire lives. 

That anti-Christopher Columbus theory is going to be dismantled under this administration. They're going to explore the world and the globe. These are not MetroCard leaders. These are passport leaders. One of the goals we have, that every baby that graduates from high school, we want them to have their passport with their diploma in their hands so they can start exploring the globe. That is what we want to accomplish. Don't limit their scope. If you can be a doctor in Manhattan, you can do it in Manchester. If you can be an architect in Bed-Stuy, you can do it in Belgium. The globe needs to be explored, and we need to put them on a pathway in direction of doing that. That is what we accomplished. That's not all we're announcing today. I'm really proud of this, and I want the chancellor to go into debt. 

Building on the double-digit increases in math. I don't know if you heard me, double-digit increases in math. Math scores with our students have already achieved. We are today announcing the launch of New York City Solves, a new curriculum. That will transform how we are teaching math in New York City schools, the way we transform how we're teaching reading. We went from a system that was broken, and was failing, and was just making paper for other people, to a system that's improving how our children read. It was a bold, bold step, which the chancellor did, and now he's taking that next bold step and doing it with math. 

Chancellor Banks will come up here in a moment to discuss the specifics, but the equation is simple. When you take good policy and multiply it by hard work, the net results will always be positive. So I want to thank our teachers, our staff, our students, and families for being part of the greatest school system in the nation. I want to thank our partners with the UFT and the CSA, and all the community advocates, and all those who have been fighting for so long in turning this system around. 

They've been advocating and pushing from the outside. You know sometimes you can fight so long, you don't even realize when you have the victory. You don't have to fight anymore. Let's come in and build together. Building together doesn't mean we're not going to disagree. We don't have to be disagreeable, because our babies are watching us. They're asking, how do you solve conflicts? Do you solve conflicts by yelling at each other, fighting each other, attacking each other? Then you tell them not to yell at each other, fight each other, attack each other? They say lead by example, adults. That's what we want to do as an administration. 

So I thank you. Right now, this leadership is not going to allow another Eric Adams to sit in the classroom and pray to be overlooked. We're going to have the next Eric Adams to pray to be acknowledged, because he, too, could be the mayor of the City of New York. Now I want to bring up the chancellor of the greatest school system on the globe, Chancellor David Banks.

Chancellor David Banks, New York City Public Schools: Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. I want everybody to rise to your feet for a moment. I want you to talk to the person next to you, behind you, in front of you, and say, we're already winning. All right. You can have a seat now. 

The mayor was so right, and I thank the mayor for his vision and for his leadership on so many of these things that we're doing in education, because we've got a great leader who has set forth a vision for us to follow, and I can't thank him enough. There was a special announcement that he made, and I can't let it go further without a further acknowledgement. This is a historic day as we bring together the Offices of Special Education and Multilingual Learners together under a vision that is going to elevate both of them to heights unknown. 

The reason why we're doing this is because this woman is the woman who has been leading in this work for so long, who came to me with a vision of what it would take to take this work to another level. I think she deserves an even bigger round of applause, and I want her to come on up here and say a word. Christina Foti.

Deputy Chancellor Christina Foti, Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning, New York City Public Schools: Thank you, everybody. Thank you, chancellor. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you so much, everybody, for being here. Thank you, chancellor. Thank you, mayor. We are so grateful for this opportunity, and I think the reason you're hearing this energy today is we've been waiting for this moment. 

We've been waiting for the moment to elevate our children, to acknowledge our children, to say that, as the mayor so beautifully said, Eric, we see you, we know you're going to succeed, and we're going to make sure you're set up for success. We're seeing it already. We have our autism programs and students in our autism programs graduating at 95 percent four-year graduation rates. We have our Ever ELL students graduating at 91 percent graduation rates. We know what to do. Now we need to make sure that every classroom, every school is doing it across the system. We feel we're in really wonderful hands with our chancellor and are so proud to be part of this exciting time. Thank you.

Chancellor Banks: Just a quick note, as we… Back when we launched NYC Reads, I heard from so many educators, families, and community members across the city, the country, and even from around the world. People were excited about what this shift to the science of reading would mean for all of our children. 

Sometimes that excitement was also paired with a question, and that question was always, but what about math? See, so as much of our schools struggle with teaching or reading, many of them also struggle with effective math instruction. This struggle manifests itself in all of the data. Listen to this, in 2023, half of our students in grades three through eight were not proficient in math. That was an improvement from the year before. Nearly 66 percent of Black students and approximately 64 percent of Latino students scored below proficiency. I don't know about you, but I think that is wholly unacceptable. 

This trend persists into high school. In 2023, 42 percent of our students did not even pass the Algebra I Regents exam by the end of the ninth grade. This problem isn't unique to New York City. Just like the reading, you see the correlation on the math as well. In Philadelphia public schools, nearly 80 percent of the students were not proficient in math in 2023. In Chicago, it was 82.5 percent. In Detroit, 91 percent of the students in the city of Detroit scored below proficiency. It's outrageous. 

We know that literacy is a foundational skill that our students need for success in school, work, and life, but so is numeracy. As the data shows, not only do we have a literacy crisis in this country, but we absolutely have a math crisis as well. This struggle with math, for many of us, runs very deep. It starts early. Students develop a fear of math from the earliest grades. We have kids who will say, I'm not a math person. Even worse than that, we have teachers who say, I'm not a math person. I saw that firsthand. I was an elementary school teacher. Many of the elementary school teachers have a liberal arts background. They were good in English and history, but not so good in the math and the sciences. They have a fear that they then bring to the classroom. 

We've got to turn this around. Following in the footsteps of NYC Reads, this fall we will be introducing NYC Solves. 93 middle schools in 8 districts and 420 high schools across the city will use the same curriculum, Illustrative Math, supported by intensive teacher coaching, just like we are providing for NYC Reads. With NYC Solves, our classrooms will be focused on deeply understanding math concepts, connecting these concepts to each other, and applying these concepts to the real world. In other words, students must learn the fundamentals and understand the concepts behind them. Importantly, they need a clear grasp of how math operates beyond the classroom. In the supermarket, at the bank, in careers ranging from engineering to computer science, business to healthcare. 

I want to ask the superintendents, this is what's interesting about this, but it's a little different than what we did with NYC Reads. We had 8 superintendents who came to us to say, not only are we deeply inspired by the work we're already doing with NYC Reads, but our community is saying, let's move forward right now on math. We did not mandate this yet. We had our hands full with trying to do the reading and getting us right back on track. To have these superintendents step up and say, we are ready for that next challenge and we want to move forward in doing that, I think is just exemplary. I just want to ask those superintendents to stand. Superintendents McGuire, Vaughn, Padilla, Rosado, Alvarez, Cintron, Inzerillo, and Lozada. All of our superintendents. Give them a big round of applause. I want to thank you for your vision. You didn't have to lead. That's what I call, that's leadership. Because what you are doing now, the rest of the city is going to follow. Thank you for taking that first step on behalf of your children. 

I want to thank our entire team for their tireless work on this initiative. In addition to our superintendents, our principals, all of our educators who are going to bring NYC Solves to life in our classrooms. I also want to thank our labor partners, UFT. I didn't see Michael here today, but I did see Henry Rubio from the CSA. Where's Henry? Is Henry over there somewhere? Where's Henry? Henry, thank you, my man. Thank you for being a great partner with us on not only this, but on so many other pieces of this work that we are very much focused on. 

Now with this, I just want to say this. We want to end with some reflections. We've accomplished so much this year. As you heard fromMayor Adams, he mentioned several of these things already. It doesn't end there. Just a few more things. We have seen our first enrollment increase in eight years. That's a huge sign. To keep our children safe, we have completed a total of almost 500 safer access door locking installations. All of our elementary schools and by the end of the summer, all of our middle schools will be fully secured. Something that's near and dear to me, and we grew a community collective. This is not just school safety agents. It's not just the NYPD. It's not just the folks who work in the schools. It's the community, the village that has to raise the child. That's what Project PIVOT represents for us. We have now grown Project PIVOT to 257 schools. All the brothers, Project PIVOT , let me see you. Yes. We've offered training to teachers to ensure that schools conduct two to five minutes of daily mindful breathing with students. That's something the mayor said walking in the door. In fact, the mayor was talking about this eight years ago when he was interviewing me for this job. That is something that is missing. It is so critical. Something that would seem so simple. Just two to five minutes. Just to pause and let's reflect. Just let your mind be at ease. That is a lifelong skill that we are continuing to develop for our children. They need it for their own mental health and newsflash, many of the adults in this room, you need it, too. 

The mayor talked about the work that we've already done with our modern youth apprenticeship programs. We've supported over 400 students into paid internships at 30 different host sites. We've launched our first climate action days, Emma. With the Sanitation Department, we've scaled curbside composting to 100 percent of our K-12 schools. We are paying attention to the environment. It matters. We continue to expand our Hidden Voices curricular resources to expose students to the diverse perspectives, as the mayor talked about. Representing our city. Publishing Hidden Voices on the global African diaspora. Announcing plans to create Hidden Voices on the Muslim and Jewish American communities. It matters. It matters. You can't be a citizen of the world with a neighborhood mentality. You've got to continue to expand on their perspective. That's why we've also added this year Diwali as a school holiday. It matters. 

We added 40 new bilingual programs this year. It's so heartwarming. What's your name? Come over here again. Tell me your name. Yes. Chris? See Chris come up here. And speaks so fluently. Just wonderful, amazing. Chris, you are just brilliant. It's written all over your face. We need you. New York City needs you. Thank you. Thank you, my man. Think about that. We speak 180 different languages in this city. In our school system. Just wrap your mind around that. 180 languages in New York City Public Schools. The mayor and I talk about this all the time. The whole world lives here. There's a reason why this is the most important city on the globe and why everybody is trying to get here. We've launched a virtual school and a hybrid school. Now all high schools starting next year will have the opportunity to offer virtual courses after school and on the weekends. Over 100 schools will start doing that in September. 

We are looking ahead to AI, the next frontier in virtual learning and an opportunity to completely transform the way we do schools. Pay attention. AI is going to absolutely dramatically change how we are doing schools. Right now you hear people talking about it as though it's just going to help teachers be able to do their lesson plans a little bit more efficiently and a couple other things like that. The very nature in which we do schools is going to dramatically change. When the mayor talks about, again, this global village. If I'm a third grader sitting in this school right here. If I'm an eighth grader in another school in Queens. What about having access to teachers in China, in India, in Africa? That the whole world becomes connected through this technology. That is where we are going, folks. That's when I say pay attention. Dramatic change is on the way. 

Ultimately this long list of accomplishments only scratches the surface because across our 1,600 schools and our nearly 1 million students, there are thousands upon thousands of success stories. Stories of individual students growing, learning, and achieving. I want to just close my remarks with just this one little story. At PS 345, which is a phase one NYC Reads school in Brooklyn, one of this year's fifth grade students, young man by the name of [Papa Bah.] He was a young boy who moved to this country from Senegal. When he arrived here, he spoke no English. Within one year, he had advanced from a kindergarten level on reading to a third grade reading level, in one year. When he graduated last week, he received the principal's award for future scholars. He's here today, everybody, with his father and his teacher. [Papa Bah,] you represent the best of what our entire New York City school system is all about. We love you. We're not going to let you down. You have a wonderful loving family who is right here with you. Everybody else here is with you too. You keep up the good work. 

The best is yet to come. Stories like this remind us of why we are here and why we do this work. Let's use this as an inspiration and a motivation to do all that we can. To build bright starts and bold futures for all of our children. With that, I would like to introduce Imani Reevey, an 8th grader from Fannie Lou Hamer Middle School right here in District 12. Imani is going to tell us a little bit about her math experience in school. Thank you, Imani. Oh, yes. You take your time. Take a nice deep breath.

Imani Reevey: Hello. My name is Imani and I am an 8th grader at Fannie Lou Hamer Middle School. I've changed a lot of my feelings about math because of the fact that I've had amazing teachers and engaging lessons. I used to hate math. Not only did I hate it, I wasn't as confident in my abilities as I am now. I used to think I wasn't good at it and simply couldn't do it. 

Since being in Emma and Antonella's math classes, I now feel confident in my skills. The way I do math, both with help and without help, has really changed. I enjoy math and I actually love learning about math, both new and old. Specifically, finding the volume of cylinders. That has to be my favorite. Having lessons that are not only engaging but interactive and being able to get the help needed to succeed in math has really altered the way I feel about math as a whole. I find this really important because keeping kids engaged and having fun while learning is what makes the biggest impact in how we learn. It's what gets us motivated and excited to learn about math and want to better ourselves. It makes us feel confident in our abilities, which is what I know actually happened in my case. 

I've also found that being able to clearly discuss my thoughts and feelings and opinions with my peers in math class has not only affected the way I view others' opinions and methods for solving questions in math, it's also opened a gateway for me to find different methods for solving questions that make it easier or faster than before while actively learning from those around me. I know I can work with others in my class to solve difficult problems. Next year, I feel confident in my ability to tackle any math challenge that comes my way. Thank you.

Chancellor Banks: Great job, Imani. Thank you. Did you see, right, you have to employ those breathing techniques? The mayor talks about it all the time. You're going to get up in moments, you're going to be a little nervous, you're going to be a little bit much. We all face that no matter what we do, we have various aspects of life where every person in this room will get up to a point and they're like, whoa, and you breathe. Take your time and breathe. You did a great job, Imani. 

Lastly, I'd like to introduce Lucina Clarke, the founder and executive director of My Time Inc. Lucina is a fierce advocate, and we greatly admire her work to educate and empower families of autistic students. Please welcome Lucina. 

Lucina Clarke, Co-Founder and Executive Director, My Time Inc: Good afternoon. Good afternoon, everyone. First, I want to say thank you to Eric Adams, or mayor. I’ve known him for ages, when he began in our community and, being an educator for over 30 years. Recently opening, I can't say recent, 18 years is recent for me because if you know my age, I'll be 60. This, when you love the work you do, this is how you feel and you look. 

I want to thank the chancellor and everyone on this panel, especially Christina. When I met Christina two years ago, we had a conference, a disability summit at Gracie Mansion with our mayor who was so wonderful to give us this space to discuss about being a child with a disability and a parent. My love has always been the parents. Within the 30 years of educating the children, I see the parents as the valuable source. As an educator, we need to connect and also be open to our parents. It's so important. While having that disability summit, it was so amazing. We had over 90 people. I don't know how our mayor did it. I had every commissioner, the chancellor, everyone at the table said to me, Lucina, how did you do it? I don't take these things for granted because I'm a believer. I know when things are to happen and I know when my God has placed me in places, I need to be here. So thank you. 

I remembered on Friday, one of the things we do at My Time Inc, first of all, I'm the executive director of My Time Inc with my amazing husband, Wayne Clarke, which Christina got to meet. He can be very opinionated, but he's always correct in most of the things that he does. Friday, I took some of my parents. What we do in our program is really empower our families, empower our parents to be the best that they can be, despite whatever is going on. On Friday, [Denise] is my assistant, she's an amazing parent, and I want to thank her for just being my right hand, my left hand, all my hands in doing the work. [Denise,] stand up because I have to acknowledge the people who really pushes me to do what I'm doing in serving parents. On Friday, she sent me a text we were going to… I take the parents to a gym the third Friday of every month, because I feel that what Eric was saying, our mindset, your mindset and gratitude every morning is so important. 

She sent me a text, and I listened to certain people, talking about life and God and whatever. The text was destiny meeting, and I'm saying to myself, destiny meeting? I didn't look at the text, because I was at the gym, we were working out, and then Christina had called me, she said there was a surprise for you, I'm like, a surprise? Tell me, because I don't like surprises, I like to know, so I'm prepared. Then right after, I checked my text, and the text was saying destiny meeting. He said, you will be placed in places that you'll never ever think you've been in, because you're an agent changer. That's my goal for many years. My intention and my purpose is to create a community where our parents, the educational system, the governmental system, whether it's the state or federal, work together, no one asks for a child with a disability. These children are your gifts. I tell parents, be careful how you unwrap your gift, who you place your gift with, and who you give your gift to. They themselves are gifts, because so often, society have told them, you have a child with a disability, you're broken, you're not worthy, you're not worth it. Then they internalize that. 

When we talk about our children having issues or concerns, because our parents are not as loved as they should be, we need to take the time as educators to listen. I'm telling you, I have some parents that are pain in the butt that I'm going to tell you all now, you are, but however, when you use your voice the right way, you can get what you need. When I heard, the speaking here with chancellor and Eric and the change and the transformation, I am so elated to see and know that we have an administration that is listening, actually listening and being on the forefront. I know whenever I call Christina and her team, Carson and Stephanie and all of them, with an issue or concern for a parent, it is taken care of. It's not because I'm who I am, but it's about the relationship we form with people, and we tend to forget that. The relationships are very important. I always tell people, I'm here to be used, but be careful how you use me. 

No, it's okay, we are in a system of using one another, but it's also, you should realize if I have one hand, I need another hand to clap. As we continue on this journey, I am so excited about parents being more involved. I tell the parents, I know I get governmental funds, if this is not the place for you, don't waste my time, because this is for your children, it is for you. If you don't set your mind and yourself to where you need to be, there can never be changes. You got to pull up your socks, you brought us a gift. How you treat your gift is so important to the way we will treat your gift. When you send your child to school, I don't care who she looks like, make sure she looks well-dressed, it doesn't matter. You’re a parent, people tend to look at us how we dress, how we look, it's not the right way always, but it's who we are. 

When every morning you send your child out, you tell the child how much you love that child, whether the child has language, being verbal or not. First of all, you need to tell yourself you love you, because if you can't say it to yourself, and you cannot give gratitude to yourself, how can you expect to give it to others? Then you expect us to give all this work to your child, and you're doing nothing. It's not fair. You need to be responsible as much, be accountable. Now we're having a system with Christina and her team and a new administration, really going there. Do you think I like changes? No. It was like I get up four o'clock every morning to go to the gym for 5:15. Then my day is long, so by four I'm totally crashed, but I know it's for myself because when I come into work every single day, I ask God and I pray and I ask for the gratitude to give me the right words to say to each parent that walks through our door, because I don't know what they're going through. How can we change our environment and our space to embrace each other? 

We all come from different places. I'm from the Caribbean. I grew up here. I left Trinidad when I was 18-years-old. I adapted to a new life, but I love what I do. From the moment I started teaching, my whole life was dedicated to the children. Then recently, 18 years ago, it was dedicated to the parents because I saw the need for the support and the empowerment. Parents, you have that in your hands. Teachers, sometimes parents, we are tired, we are frustrated, and we're weary, and we depend on you for some advice sometimes. I want to thank all of you who have dedicated and committed your life to serving others. All our jobs are servant leaders, and every morning when you get up, you give gratitude. Just give thanks for just being here. I want to thank everyone for just being here. Christina, I know you're going to make this work, the Chancellor. Eric, thank you for believing in me as well. I want to thank you all. what? Stand up for a few minutes, guys. Stand up. Thank you.

Chancellor Banks: Before we walk off the stage, please give a big round of applause. The founding Principal Derrig of this school. Thank you so much. One final thing, and I'll say this deeply from my heart. In the two and a half years that we have been here, we are winning. We are winning. We are making tremendous strides in education. We have a long way to go. I thank all of you. I really, I want to thank the mayor. Because the mayor has been the one who has given us the framework to make it all happen. Y'all can do a lot better than that, everybody. Let our mayor hear it.

[...]

Mayor Adams: I know what I know, and I know what I don't know, so we're going to let the chancellor and his team… I've got a lot going on today, so I'm going to have to bounce. I'll answer a few questions, but I want to turn it over to these experts here. Why don't we take one or two questions. Marcia!

Question: Mr. Mayor, so the chancellor talked about the fact that math and reading, math proficiency is below average, 66 percent for Black students, 64 percent for Latino students. I wonder if you could tell me what your goal is for this New York Solves problem, like how much do you feel you can pull people up by their bootstraps so that math becomes as successful as your reading programs?

Mayor Adams: What is really fascinating is how we are nontraditional. We have a holistic approach because three universities did a study that the mere fact that you tell a young girl you're not good in math, it actually impacts their ability to do math. We don't realize what we say, how it can actually play on what you believe you can do and what you can't do. 

As we have our educators doing the academic stuff, we're going to have our counselors, our breathing, we're going to start telling these babies that you can. You saw what the chancellor did with the young man who was, Chris, I believe his name was, was speaking Spanish. He was given the reward system. Now in many communities, these babies are rewarded every day. In some communities, an overwhelming number of them, they start their day, they walk into a store, the person will put the money in their hand, they put it on the counter, they follow them around the store, they talk negative around them. We got to start motivating these children. 

We know that teachers can teach the concepts of math. As the young lady stated, she said, I hated math. Why did she hate math? She didn't come out of her mother's womb saying I hate math. Someone told her, you are not going to be good at math. We have to use all this research out here and prepare these children for math. I think that's what the chancellor's doing. You want to go on?

Chancellor Banks: Yes. One thing I would just simply say, because I saw it firsthand. Two things. One, I would tell you this. I was an elementary school teacher. I was teaching fourth and fifth grade. I saw the teachers in the school deathly afraid of math. It's very hard for you to be a good math teacher if you are afraid of the subject. Then you transfer that to the kids themselves. Then everybody's running around talking about I'm not a math person. You can change that. 

What you need… First of all, much like NYC Reads, schools all over the city, even on math, were just doing their own thing. They were just creating their own curriculum. That's no way to run a system. The mayor used to say for years, people wouldn't mind us spending so much money on our public schools if we got better results, right? You can't spend this amount of money and still get poor results. Again, I do not fault the teachers. I want to be very clear about that. I don't fault our administrators. They need a better blueprint, a guidepost for how to do this. If this is a system, then we need to have more of a framework of how everybody should be moving. 

When we talk about early childhood, think about this. I can take you to an early childhood program right now. Kids are engaged in math in all the ways that kids learn best, by doing. It's real-world stuff. Then we get into the older grades, and they're learning in complete isolation, oftentimes from teachers who are afraid to even teach it. It's not the kids' fault, and it is, in fact, correctable. That's what NYC Solves represents. It's the beginning of a process. Won't turn around overnight, but we're going to put this system back on the right track. 

Question: Did you hate math? 

Mayor Adams: Yes. Because, growing up in a household, everybody on the block was saying they hate math. We were just—it's almost like you're indoctrinated. We need a new language in these communities, You were constantly reminded of what you can't be. Who was saying— It was just mommy that was saying, baby, you got this. you could do it. You could do it. Then you went into a whole universe where everyone was telling you what you couldn't be. You could be a mechanic. You could do this. You could do that. You have to know math. Yes, I was indoctrinated to believe I couldn't read, I couldn't do math. I would never be a public speaker. People used to tell me all the time, you'll never be a public speaker. Who wanted to listen to you?

Chancellor Banks: Let me just say something about the mayor as well. The mayor, you think about this. As a young kid, this guy was building cars, rebuilding car engines. You have to know some math to do that. There's a disconnect between the real-world stuff and then what you're actually doing in school. Now, let me illustrate this point. I, by most definitions, was a good math student. I liked math. I did well in math. I had no idea what it meant. My brain was just oriented in a way I could do the numbers and the formulas and the x plus to the — x squared plus y. I could figure those things out. If you were to ask me in practical terms what it means, I had no clue. 

There are a lot of our kids right now who do, quote-unquote, do well in math and still don't know what it actually means. We need to make math meaningful. It has to relate to the real world. The more that kids see how it connects to the real world, the more you will see their brilliance come out. We're teaching them in silos, in isolation, and they're learning formulas that don't really mean anything, unless how to make practical application. NYC Solves is focused on practical application, so that you can make deeper meaning of what it is that you're actually engaging with.

Mayor Adams: As I started out the beginning of our comments, and the chancellor and I were in the room talking, we put $500 million in the school system. It is unbelievable how we have the title of being abusive to the educational system. I don't know of another administration in a two-and-a-half-year period of time that has recovered the school system and allowed the system to thrive. I think that, Sheena, wherever she is, Sheena was just right, that if we don't tell our own story, there's going to be a belief out there that this extremely successful education administration did just the opposite. 

I have parents tell me all the time, what you've done to the school system. I said, do y'all really know? In fact, when you share it, they say, wait a minute, I didn't know that, because they have been bombarded with the loud, organized groups who are saying, oh, they're destroying 3K, oh, they're taking money out of schools. We put $500 million in the school system. We held the children—we held schools harmless that had dropped and decreased. We have 38,000—how many? 38,000 migrants and asylum seekers. The story we just told, Marcia, about that young man that learned how to read in a short period of time, that's one of—where's my brother? Come on up here, man. Come on up here. 

This is—this is—I was telling the chancellor, we need to, this is one of many. This is one of many. The success we are having is just unbelievable. Under all that we're going through, we're not sitting back saying, woe is me. We're saying, why not me? These are like unbelievable… Imagine what this young man is going to grow up to be and those other young children, what they're going to grow up to be. This is a love story that people turned into a tragedy. We need to acknowledge the love story that this administration has had with our babies. We've taken this love story, because people want to… It's better to talk negative about stuff, but we've taken this love story and turned it into a tragedy. We should be singing and praising this group of people here. This is an amazing love story that we are experiencing. Thank you. Thank you. I was just in Senegal, went to Fort Elmina, I believe it's called. beautiful place. you're going to have a lot of fun. 

Okay. I've got to bounce, but the chancellor's here and his team to finish. Okay? You always got a question. 

Question: It's just about how much the budget— how much of the budget is New York Solves’ going to actually—

Mayor Adams: When we finish with the budget, I'm going to bring to the podium a plane. I keep telling y'all, we're going to land the plane. Right? We're going to land a plane.

Question: How much is it going to cost?

Mayor Adams: We're going to work it all out for New York.

Chancellor Banks: We'll take a few questions if you have any. Emma?

Question: Hi, Chancellor Banks. Anita from the New York Post. I was going to ask the mayor, how much money has been allocated from the budget for New York City Solves? For Solves?

Chancellor Banks: Yes. Deputy chancellor, we'll get that. Just give us just one second. We'll give you the number. Do we have anybody else with a question?

Question: Cayla from the Daily News. The former Division of Teaching and Learning oversaw both special education and multilingual learners. I understand some of those people have been moved into the school leadership division. Can you provide a little bit more clarity about where the staff is formerly teaching and learning?

Chancellor Banks: Where's Christina? Christina, come on. Let's talk a little bit about the vision of where we're going with this.

Deputy Chancellor Foti: Of course. We'll begin with the Special Education Office and the Division of Multilingual Learners. The Special Education Office is remaining intact. Same is true for the Division of Multilingual Learners. Deputy Chancellor Rux, not sure if you want to talk, but I can tell you, I could say a bit and then, if anything, correct me or jump on in. The Division of Teaching and Learning is now under Deputy Chancellor Rux's leadership with Miatheresa Pate overseeing curriculum and instruction and educator development. It is true that many folks will be moving to support our district offices and that we believe that local support will increase continued outcomes for students and respond to the local needs of the community.

Chancellor Banks: I think what's most important to know about this is it's a reimagining of the work. There's not new dollars that are being added at this particular time. It's repurposing of the dollars in a way that we think will be much more impactful for the field itself. I have to tell you, the fiercest advocates since I've taken this position have been those in this space, particularly around special education, and have long sought some new approaches for us to take so that we are making sure that we are reaching every child and every child is getting what they need. This is a first step for us in doing that. I can't think of anybody better to lead us in doing that work than Christina. You'll be hearing more over time in terms of how the office will itself evolve, who will be shifted and moved around, but it's something we're excited about, and Christina is going to lead us in that vision.

Question: Hi, chancellor. I guess this is for you and for Deputy Chancellor Foti. Congratulations on your new title. I'm just wondering if you have a top priority specifically for special education, that aspect of this wing. We've talked about this for a long time, that a lot of parts of the system are broken. Some of those parts long predate your administration in terms of just the timeline of getting a student evaluated into the right place, getting them the right services. 10,000 students went without services they needed last year. What's your top priority for this?

Deputy Chancellor Foti: In short, I would say that preschool certainly, and I know this is a topic dear and dear to your heart and all of our hearts, preschool special education is a critical need. We're delighted about the $25 million that's coming our way. That's going to certainly help us. We're also really happy that we're going to be on year two of the contract enhancements, and so that is something that DC Ahmed is leading alongside of us, but we're very hopeful of what that will bring. 

We talked about that $25 million creating small classes for students who need the small class setting as well as related services that will allow them to get their full gamut of services. I mentioned earlier our graduation rates for our autism programs. We definitely want to continue to expand those programs as a major priority of ours. Our bilingual programs, we're seeing incredible outcomes in those bilingual programs, 35 languages covered in them. Our Ever ELLs performing at 91 percent graduation rates, really remarkable work. The expansion of these high-quality programs is also a major priority of ours, Jillian. Thank you.

Question: Can you talk a little bit about this new advisory council that's supporting multilingual learners? How many people are going to be on it for the external voices and just what it will be tasked with doing?

Deputy Chancellor Foti: Yes, we're really excited about this. You all have heard a lot about the Special Education Advisory Council, which the chancellor started a year prior, and that Special Education Advisory Council was over 50 folks from all across every aspect of the world of education, university partners, union partners, local electeds, educators, parents, students. 

They came together and they produced a report that we released, which made five recommendations. Those recommendations are guiding principles, and certainly one of those recommendations is to expand our high-quality programs. We want to do the same for our multilingual learners. We would like to use the same format. We'll gather in a diverse group of folks who will help guide us in what they're seeing on the ground, particularly with the influx of our newly arrived New Yorkers, and help make a set of recommendations for our work with multilingual learners ahead.

Question: I have a question about math, actually. I was just wondering how many of the 93 middle schools and 420 high schools were already using illustrative math this year?

Deputy Chancellor Danika Rux, School Leadership, New York City Public Schools: Of the 92, 93 schools, some of them are new. Some of them have been using it, newly adopted. It's a mixture of the two. If we can get them this, we can get you the specifics. We can get you the specifics. Some of the districts, some of the schools were already using it, and the superintendent engaged the community, and we were able to shift and get the rest of the community to buy into the new curriculum. 

It's a combination. We used a model that we had from New York City Reads with the community engagement. The beauty of it is that superintendents and principals engage the folks in their community. On their own, no mandate, they decided that this was the best path for them to engage their teachers in professional development. They used the resources that they had at their school outside of funding from Central to ensure that they were leading this work in a collaborative and cohesive manner across the district. We're really excited about this because now this affords our schools an opportunity to get coaching, which we have heard from many of our phase one superintendents, principals, and teachers that was the game changer with this. It wasn't so much about a curriculum, but it's about how we're using the curriculum and how we're organizing the people to move the work in a powerful way. 

We've also heard from many students about this work, and you heard the student, the eighth grader today talk about the work that's happening in the district, and parents as well. We've heard many parents say that right now they can, when they're, I heard a parent this weekend actually talk about this with New York City Reads. At the YMCA, I was taking my daughter to swim class, and she was talking with other parents about the literacy curriculum that is being used in the district, in District 27. That is how this is taking legs and being able to mobilize across the entire city. It's an excitement that we've never seen before around work that's really important, the work that we're here to do, which is teach our kids to read and be proficient mathematicians.

Chancellor Banks: What excites me the most about it, as Dr. Rux said, think about that. These principals, Henry, they didn't wait on us. These superintendents didn't wait on us. They're out in front of us on this. I had concerns about our ability to launch into a new full-scale curriculum. One of the reasons we're just going with the eight to start. These eight are going to lead and be trailblazers for the rest of the city, which is an exciting thing that we are seeing the system moving away, where they're not simply waiting for mandates and dictates from the chancellor's office. These folks are moving on their own and saying, we got this.

Question: I know you've stressed that the middle school element of this isn't a mandate, but it sounds like you're going to require all middle schools to pick from some list of curriculums. When does that happen for all middle schools, and what curriculums are they going to be picking from?

Deputy Chancellor Rux: Right now we've expanded to i-Ready and Amplify Desmos for our curriculum options. We have three right now. We're continuing to look. We don't have the answer with one curriculum, but we're continuing to look. We have an advisory group that we bring together that looks through different curriculum options, and we're open to expanding in the future. For right now we're starting with the three that we have. Again, superintendents in their community can look through the three and decide, make a decision for their entire district.

Question: When do they have to pick from that?

Deputy Chancellor Rux: Every year we have a core curriculum window, and that is in the spring of every year. We're past that curriculum ordering period for this year, but for next year that will open up again in the spring. 

Chancellor Banks: The eight for this year…

Deputy Chancellor Rux: Are set, illustrative math for the eight. 

Question: Three-year rollout. 

Chancellor Banks: All right, thank you. Yes, Dan, one last thing on the three-year rollout, one last thing.

First Deputy Chancellor Daniel Weisberg, New York City Public Schools: Yes, chancellor, so we're starting with the eight in September, and then over the following two years we'll get to all of the districts for middle school. Just, Alex, make sure we answer your question.

Chancellor Banks: We did a two-year rollout for NYC Reads to get everybody, and it will be three years on the math.

First Deputy Chancellor Weisberg: Thank you.