001I'd like to call to order our budget and finance subcommittee meeting which is a committee of the whole Wednesday May 28th. Superintendent, would you please call the role? Mr. Begley. Mrs. Cahill present. Mr. Gatro present. Mrs. Hubley, Mrs. Lebo, Mrs. Perios, present, and Mayoke present. Everyone, please stand. Join me in pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Remain standing for a moment of silence. Just coming off of uh Memorial Day, let us be mindful of all those Quinsey kids serving in our military all across the globe. Thank you. Okay. Anybody uh in the public public hearing is opened. Anybody want to speak on the budget? I'll ask again. two. Anybody want
002to speak on the budget? Got I remember the years when the line was out the door. Superintendent. Okay. Seeing uh seeing no takers, uh we'll journ the public hearing and we'll go into uh regular committee. Jim, did you want to come up? I don't know if anybody has any questions at this point after the presentation by the superintendent, assistant superintendent last meeting. Don't say anything now. You good? Everybody good? Thank you, Jim. Thanks, Jim. Best performance ever. We have two, right? Um, but we need Paul. Uh, he said he was okay. Well, budget and uh subcommittee um is in adjournment and uh we'll wait a couple of minutes for the next subcommittee. Yeah, that one. Okay, sorry. Sorry again. We will call our meeting to order of the Quincsey School Committee subcommittee teaching and learning
003for May 28th and we will open the agenda with Mrs. Wjek um to for Quincsey public school language access plan. Like to introduce your team. There are four team members who are instrumental in shaping this plan. They are the Quinsey Public Schools family liaison who work directly with families every day supporting interpretation, translation, and ensuring families have full access to their children's education. So, let me take a moment to introduce them. Sitting on my far left is Ray Lao. To my immediate left is Laura Tang. On my right hand side is Moshi Dong. And on my right side is Bin Woo. Together, we are proud to present this plan to you tonight. We have been honored with the opportunity to be part of an initiative led by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
004Our district was selected to be one of four districts invited to participate in the very first cohort to develop a language access plan. Two key reasons Quinsey Public Schools was selected to be part of the state's first language access plan cohort. number one, our family liaison, and number two, our existing language access tools and practices. Since January of 2022, our family liaison have also taken part in ongoing training through the Edwin Getsler Translation Center at UMass Amherst, sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. These sessions focus on interpretation and translation best practices specifically for public school settings and they've been instrumental in strengthening our team's capacity. This foundation, the training, the tools and the commitment from staff positions Quinsey public schools to join the state's first cohort of districts creating a comprehensive
005language access plan. We were there with the four three other districts, Barnstable Public Schools, Ravier Public Schools, and Salem Public Schools. And we're even more proud that part of our plan will serve as a model for districts across Massachusetts. Now, what is a language access plan? This plan reflects our district's commitment to providing equitable communication to the members of our school community. It outlines the different services and supports available to help families who need interpretation and translation services engage fully with staff and district resources. Ultimately, this plan is about making sure that every family, regardless of language, has equal access to the tools and information they need to support their children's education. Now, let's take a quick look at the demographics of Quinsey Public Schools. Our district is home to 19 schools and over 9,800
006students. A key aspect of our diversity is the wide range of languages spoken by our families. In fact, over 70 languages are reported as being spoken within our community. And this diversity enriches our district, but also presents challenges in making sure we're meeting the communication needs of all families. After English, some of the most commonly spoken languages include Cantonese, Mandarin, Portuguese, and Spanish. Understanding this language diversity is a vital step in ensuring that our language access plan is comprehensive and effective. Now, why does Quinsey public schools need a language access plan? There are a few key reasons that we wanted to highlight for you. First, we live in a global community in recognizing this language diversity is essential in fostering an inclusive environment. Second, the language access plan promotes two-way communication. And third, it's about
007respecting each family's uniqueness. By creating a system that acknowledges these differences, we are building stronger relationships. And lastly, our goal is to communicate with families in a language they can fully understand. This is crucial for ensuring that families are able to actively participate in their children's education in school community. One of the key reasons public Quinsey public schools was selected to be part of the state's first language access plan cohort was the strength of our existing language access tools and practices. So, let's take a moment to reflect on how this work has evolved. In January of 2020, we made a significant advancement by adopting school messenger to send mass communications, texts, emails, and phone calls in families preferred languages. It was a big step toward ensuring all families had timely access to important information. In
008November of 2020, a spreadsheet was developed with equitable access districtwide and centralized tracking using designated bilingual staff in our partner Corey. In the 2021 2022 school year, we introduced a key resource for language access, the international translation company for ondemand and scheduled interpretation services. In December 2021, we we took another significant step toward forward by posting a job opening for family liaison. These roles were created with the specific goal of having trained individ individuals to serve as a bridge between the school and families who need language access. They provide support helping families navigate school resources, answer questions, and facilitate meetings, orientations, and parentmies. By January of 2022, we had officially formed the family liaison team. Looking at the 2022 2023 school year, we continue to make strides in enhancing language access for the families. Specifically,
009our English learner teachers at both the elementary and middle school levels, concentrated on family engagement through the lens of language access. This training helped educators understand how to better connect with families and understand the available tools in Quinsey public schools. Another significant development came through the interpretation and translation handbook created with valuable input from our K to2 English learner teachers. In August of 2023, we adopted S'more, a digital platform that supports automatic written translation in the family's preferred languages. Another big improvement came in how staff request interpreters. We transitioned from a shared spreadsheet to a user-friendly Google form. This shift simplified the process for our staff which improving the district's ability to track requests, respond quickly, and better manage interpreter assignments. In November, our family liaison led their first professional development session focused specifically on
010language access. With the positive feedback, their professional development session remains an annual offering. A meaningful milestone came in January of 2024 when the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education invited Quinsey Public Schools to join its first cohort of districts developing a formal language access plan. And this invitation reflected the progress we have made and again it will become a model that will be shared with and used by other districts across the state. This year has marked a m a major achievement with the completion of the first draft of Quinsey public schools language access plan. This draft of the language access plan reflects not only the department of elementary and secondary education's guidance but also the lived experience of families in the insights and advocacies of our family liaison who are here with me this evening.
011The family liaison have been instrumental in shaping this work from the ground up and they will now share the language access plan with you. It is my pleasure to introduce Rey who will begin the presentation on behalf of the team. Thank you Heather. So let's imagine for a moment that you are a new parent stepping into Quincy public school for the very first time but your strongest language isn't English. Now imagine that every sign, every form, every conversation is in a language you don't fully understand. Feels a little bit overwhelming, right? That's why today we are taking a journey through the eyes of one of our families who needs interpretation and translation support from registration to school meetings to family events. We will walk through how Quincy Public School supports language access every step of
012the way. We will look at what works, where we can grow, and how every staff member plays in a part in making our district feel like home for everyone. So, buckle up. Let's and let's get started on this meaningful journey. Now, let's zoom in on where the journey really begins, the central registration office. This is where we first meet our families and where language access starts. Step one, families fill out an online pre-registration form, gather basic information, then they are contacted to set up an appointment. This is where the magic happens. Thanks to our amazing multilingual staff and over the phone interpreters, families can complete the this entire process in a language they understand. During this appointment, families also filled out a home language survey which helps us identify what kind of language support they
013will need. Interpretation for spoken conversation and or translation for written materials. From the very beginning, we make sure families feel welcome, supported, and understood. Okay, now here's where I come in. That's my picture. I need a lot of water. So that's actually me in the photo doing what I love making that first welcome call to a new QPS family. Once a student is a is officially enrolled and a QPS family liaison like me reaches out to say welcome in the family's home language whenever possible. We introduce ourselves, share our contact info and let families know that they have someone they can always reach out for help. It's also a great moment to doublech checkck their phone number and email because good communication start with a with good contact info. And we don't stop there. We
014invite families to our to follow our social media for reminders about school vacation, early release days, and fun district events. Plus, we let them know about things like new parent orientation and parent academy always in their prefer preferred language. So yes, that first phone call is simple, but it opens the door to real connection and trust and helps families feel they feel that they truly belongs at QPS. Now I'm going to pass to my colleague Laura to talk more about new parent orientation and parent academy. Thank you Ray. Once the families are connected with their family lison, we invite them to participate in new parent orientation either in person or online. This orientation are a key touchup touch point where we go over important resources and answer any question families may have. Every English learner
015new family will receive the welcome packet by email which is available in Chinese, English, Portuguese and Spanish. Includes essential information like the QPS school calendar, Aspen login instruction, ALP pack details, health information, and more. is a helpful tool to make sure families feel informed and confident as they begin their journey with Quincy Public School. Building on that support, our family liaison also conduct virtual parentmies in Mandarin, Cantonese, Portuguese, and Spanish. These workshops provide practical guidance on how to navigate the school system and support student success at home. Topics range from using the QPS website and the Aspen portal to understand report card state assessment like AMCAST and assets and how to prepare for the upcoming school year including our summer program. Back to the day-to-day communication needs, we offer over the phone interpreter service. This
016is a convenient option for both families and staff. Parents can call the school and request an interpreter or staff can initiate a three-way call with an interpreter to communicate with parents in real time. This makes sure the language is never a bur to urgent or routine conversation. Now I will pass to my colleague Moshi to talk about the interpretation at meetings. Thank you Laura. One of the important resources we offer families is the ability to request um interpreters for schedule meetings. Um the staff the interpreters can be available online or in person depending on the situation to facilitate communication with a family in their preferred language. All QPS staff have access to an online interpreter request form to make the necessary arrangements prior to their meeting. Examples of these meetings include IEP meetings, report card
017conferences, school tours, um special ed evaluations, attendance meetings, and many other examples. Another resource available to families are translations. Parents can access the QPS website and school newsletters in their preferred language. The district uses, as mentioned previously, school messenger to send communication to parents about um for example, weather related cancellations in their preferred language. And families can also receive essential documents translated into their preferred language. A very important part of having these resources available is to share that information with staff, families, and community members. Some examples on how to do this include staff receiving district-wide communication about how to access the resources. For example, where to find the interpreter request form. Families can see a poster at a school's main office letting them know to point to their language so that an interpreter could be
018provided. Community members will be able to access the details of our language access plan on the QPS website starting in September 2025. Right here on the screen, you can see an example of a poster that lets an individual know that an interpreter can be provided to communicate with the school staff if they point their point to their preferred language. I will now let my colleague be Ben continue for the rest of our presentation. Thank you, Mushi. Thank you. So the next part is training and educating too fast. Okay. Um first of all um staff who play um the role of an interpreter during the uh interaction with families should be properly trained. And secondly, translators should be equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge and culture um competence to navigate the complex comp um complexity of
019the um um educational environment and the uh sourced documents. And lastly, cop uh QPS family lea zones uh offer ongoing training opportunities for staff and families about the language access service uh available. QPS family leaison received trainings from the admin C genler translation center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst uh sponsored by Massachusetts department of uh elementary and secondary education provides online workshops um in interpretation and translation for public school settings and the language access plan planning in institute with coaches to guide districts in creating a language access plan for families. Um these are um some of the topics uh we've been treat trained and so far everyone of us has uh complete and certified 70 hour 75 hours of training and 20 more after finishing the last topic next month and each of us
020benefits from different topics. The last part um monitoring the prevention of language access services. The district monitors language needs through a uh continuous process of updating and verifying language access data. So as you can see there's two on um language um icons is ongoing update. So the difference between these two icons on the right, one is for oral interpretation needed means when school need to call the family to pass a message they need an interpreter. So the other one is for written translation means when school needs to send a message or flyer they need to be translated into their language priority. um in uh interaction with families and also uh annual online ser survey. So QPS families uh family send out the language access surveys uh feedback survey end of every school year. Um questions
021such as what is your primary language? Uh how was your experience with um uh interpretation or translation services? Private uh uh pri Yes. Uh and also do you have any uh suggestion to improve our interpretation or translation services? And also um the last one correcting, missing and uh or um incorrect datas. So that's all from us. Um thank you everyone and um feel free if you have questions or comment. Thank you. Thank thank you so much for the presentation. That was wonderful. You have any questions for my colleagues? Yeah, from the subcommittee. Okay. Did you have a question? This is Cahill. Hi, thank you. Um, do we get funding for this? Is this primarily funded through our budget or is there any kind of state or federal um grants that help support the liaison? Actually,
022it was the title three funding, but initially when we worked with UMass translation center, it was free to Quinsey public schools. So, it was perfect. So it was they were initially working with districts to train family liaison. So we got right on board. That was great the first few years. This year we're paying but it's through title three funding. Okay. So that's good. Um and what what kind of average case loads do do each of liaison do you have typic you know just on an average? Um does anyone want to are they all the same different? Some more than others I'm sure. Um well it depends on the the language. I I speak Spanish and Portuguese, so I generally help those families mainly and my colleagues divide the workload between Mandarin and Cantonese because there's
023more families that need those languages. And do do you do we initiate a lot of the conversations and the engagement with the families or do you find the families are calling you or is it more that we we have to reach out to them? um that important like that first contact is important because then they know that they can call us and once they have that contact information sometimes they will even give it to a friend who you know is about to register somebody in Quinsey but they don't have any children in school so we have never contacted them before um but I I find that when we reach out the families reach back you know they can they they feel comfortable contacting us afterwards And and do we are are you used a lot
024by the staff and teachers and administration when if a student's having difficulties and you know you might not have a relationship with the parents. Do do you get um requests from teachers and staff to connect with families that u maybe have a language barrier so you can figure out what's maybe happening with the students? Yes. Sometimes um staff will reach out to the family directly with an interpreter over the phone if it's a simple conversation. Sometimes it's more like more sensitive topics maybe that they will ask us to connect to the family especially if if we have already a relationship with the families. We can help that way too. Okay. I just want to say from from a personal experience and I shared it before um my mother came to this country and she was
02510 and she didn't speak any English at all and her primary translator was a 10-year-old girl who was sitting next to her who was also from Italy and they didn't understand each other because she was really from Sicily and not you know main mainland. So like Cantonese, Mandarin and Chinese, they have all different dialects and um so I understand the the need for the liaison in the translation and I have to say that we should be really proud of the investment that we make, the city makes to have this program in place for all of our families because from her experience, I think her academic experience would have been much different if um they had the resources that we have today. So thank you and I appreciate what you do. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
026you. Thank you. Um I actually did have two questions. Um so um the handbook, do we when we do the welcome call or when we visit with um new parents, do we go over the handbook with them? I know it's translated, but do we make sure that they fully understand it? Um yes. Um during our new parent orientation yeah we will go through the um welcome packet to them and then to make sure that um they understand actually I we also followed by the parent academy we'll go more in details for example how to use the aspen or um the access test then we will go further more in details um during the parentmies okay and the school calendar do we make sure that they fully understand the school calendar and the box on the
027bottom where it has the excused days. Yeah, because we also transl translate it in um Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese. So, um and then uh we also remind them every monthly that this month uh which day is the half day or any special um holidays, we will also mark down in our in in their language. So, they will know. All right. and they fully know how to like tell the school how who to get in touch with to tell the school that they have a special holiday that they are going to be celebrating and that they know how to how to communicate that to the school and you you make sure you tell them that. Yeah. Uh because we also have some school send us their school newsletter. So we know that that school will happen u
028what kind of event during the month then uh we will also share to our families too. Wonderful. Thank you. Okay, your question. Mrs. Partios, let me just turn your thing on here. Thank you so much. Um, thank you all for being here. Thank you for what you do. Um, the role that you guys play in welcoming families, as um, Rey, as you described, families coming here, that everything's overwhelming. And just the thought of having your child be educated here, I can only imagine is one of the most important things that they're worried about um, and concerned about, and making that transition as seamless as possible is huge. Um, so, thank you all for being here. It's um, it's it's great to have you in the district. uh what happens? So, I know you guys probably
029speak, you know, so many languages yourselves combined, but um if there's a family that comes in that doesn't speak a language that you all speak, do you still reach out to them with maybe an interpreter called in or is that how that works? Yes, I'm seeing a yes. Yeah. Basically, because you know we um because four of us, you know, speak our languages, right? But for other languages always use the um the over the phone interpreter to uh reach out to them. uh even though you know it might be a little bit you know um not smooth than you know speaking our own languages but you know it's still a very good way to start with the conversation to start with the connection to let them know that there is always someone that here to
030help them. That's fantastic. Yeah, that's great. Um and uh just to sort of piggyback on Mrs. Hub's question. So we have um excused absences for different cultural holidays but the process by which that they need to request that you can't they can't just assume that you know their child's going to have that day off be excused. So they have to write a note in for that. So they're exp- that's that process is explained to them. Yes. Um especially for this year um you know um a lot of like uh Chinese parents asking us about like at the first day of Chinese New Year and then we said it's not a holiday but you have to write a note to contact the school secretary to let them know that yes you are taking a that day
031off because of the first day of Chinese New Year but you know it's not like a you know holiday official holiday for them to you know take a day off but you if you want to because of the culture yes but you have to write a note and then we show them how to do it uh what uh the contact phone number and what kind of message that they need to share with the school. That's great. Yeah. Well, thank you very much. Thank you for answering the questions and thank you again for your work. Thank you. Um, excellent presentation, great plan. Thank you as always. I mean, I um I concur with all of the comments that my colleagues have. The uh what's astonishing to me is how far we've come in five years. You
032know, it it's just extraordinary how far we've come in five years. I have a uh just a couple of short questions and and I think you just touched on this one. So just walk me through operationally how it works. So to I know uh most of the parents, let's say they they don't English isn't their primary language, don't speak it, they want to call in for an absence or a disciplinary issue, whatever the case may be, their f first contact is the school. I guess my first question is do they often call you? Yes, they do. Um and and then h how do you handle that? And are you pushing them back to call the school and then how does the school handle it when those calls come in? Uh we want to say sorry
033we want to say that we are not pushing them back. It's more like we educate them to how to do it correctly. Educate them. Yeah. Not pushing them back. Yeah. Because you know um you know parents you know especially some parents like oh that's like uh you know contact ray it's really easy to contact you know send a message you know send a whatever social media and then you know my son will be you know officially safe for that day because of you know someone help them you know take a day off right but we always educate them no matter through phone call parent academy new parent orientation then we always show different school different contact number and then we always encourage them like don't worry if you don't speak English we have the over
034the phone interpreter so no worry just try first try to see you know maybe next time your kids got sick you want to take a day off again maybe we are not available so what else you can do so we always encourage them to do by themsel first if there was a really like a big trouble we can we can help them to make it through you know to contact the office to uh you know take a day off but you know we always encourage them to do that by themselves so in in all the schools the office staff that answers the phone they're all trained in that and then just walk me through so you get a call someone or the and isn't speaking English. How um so and you're unclear what language it
035is. But um sometimes the if if the communication is difficult, they will write down the phone number with the caller ID and um some somehow they get the language most of the time the secretaries and and sometimes they will just call the families back after they find the interpreter. They will let them know I'm calling back with an interpreter. Maybe at that moment they can't add the interpreter immediately or sometimes they can. Um, and it's funny because sometimes the school has called the family and they're just taking a few seconds to call them back with an interpreter, but they will send me a message right away. They called me in English. I don't know what to do. And but they said they would call me back with an interpreter. And I said, um, you know,
036don't worry. They will call you back or we call the school back together. It it it works out. Is it is this a daily occurrence that um what part that families call the schools uh you know reaching out through you and you have to navigating them back to the school? Um yes but not that specific case all the time but it it does happen. Yeah. on a daily basis. And um is there um how many calls do we tabulate like I didn't see any metrics in the plan in terms of you know number of families or or number of times that you've used the different services or the translation or or or you know can we track on the website how many times people access a certain language or do do we do any of
037that? I had a feeling you were gonna ask this question. So I looked at the numbers. We have over 700 requests for interpreters to date and and that's scheduled meeting. These are scheduled meetings. So over the phone I'll get that in this school year. Just this school year and this is just scheduled meetings. So then I'll get the other number for you in terms of the phone. Yeah. But that's just scheduled meetings over 700. It's significant, you know. Um and then la last question. So the um I think in the presentation it says that the language access plan will be posted in September. The date on the plan is May. Is um I guess why the delay. And then two, did you solicit or are you planning to solicit both parental or student input on
038the plan before it goes final? That was the reason we did May because we wanted to make sure you saw it first. Thank you. You're welcome. And then the next step will be to get feedback from our families from and then from staff and and that way we can actually roll it out fresh in the fall. Great. Excellent. No more questions. Thank you so much. All right. Well, thank you so much for the presentation and I can fully understand why our families want to call you first because you're all so wonderful, so very outgoing. So, thank you so much for the presentation. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Next we have um Dr. Perkins will be presenting our CPPI grant update. Dr. Perkins. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for having us here tonight.
039And I am thrilled to introduce you to uh Monnique Anteneelli who is the CPPI grant coordinator and Cleona Mclofflin who is one of which you'll hear a lot about our itinerant team members. She is our speech and language pathologist. and I just have to thank them because this grant um for those of you that haven't dealt with early education and care. It is a difficult organization to deal with the all the complaints I have about the department of ed may take back because it it's challenging and um they have taken this grant and really done an amazing job and we are I personally am very fortunate to have them. So, just to remind you, the Commonwealth uh the CPPI grant is the Commonwealth preschool partnership initiative grant. Um so, we are coming we received that
040grant at the beginning of the year. It was $250,000. Um we are coming to the close of that grant and I will say um we are eligible, it is competitive, but we are eligible for $500,000 next year and we're really hopeful that we get that. We have big plans for those funds. So, we're very hopeful that that will happen. Um, and uh, you'll hear a little bit. We did just have a site monitoring visit from uh, uh, early education and care. They came, they met with our leadership team, which we'll talk to you about, and it was actually a great meeting. Um, very productive, and I think they were very impressed with what we've done in a short amount of time. So, just before we begin, um, there's a quote here just about how important
041preschool is in access to early childhood. So the human brain develops develops most rapidly between birth and age five making the preschool years a crucial part of a child's education. So, just to review what um we will talk about today, we'll go through our leadership team, our community partners, tell you a little bit about the needs assessment that we just completed, talk a little bit about our priorities um in the grant, and then we'll end with what we are working on right now, which is our strategic action plan, which we will have to submit with our application for the next round of uh grant funding. So, this is our leadership team members. We're really fortunate. We've met multiple times. Um, so I I don't even know, maybe 10 or 12 times at this point throughout
042the course of the year, maybe more. Um, we're really fortunate. We have Sarah Morrison and Marissa Mlullen from QARE are on our team. Mike Morani uh from the curriculum office, Jen Larry from special education, Amy Ford from Walston Childc Care, Heather Riel from QCAP, Christine Coin uh who's the program director at QCAP, Bernardet Davidson from BCNC, um Amy McGra McCrae and Janice Budro and Jennifer Curtis who are from STARS. Um Nicole Caldwell from Campus Kinder House is on our team, Christine Swan from the YMCA, Chris Tierney from uh our office, our data coordinator, Mon'nique Anteneelli who I just introduced you to, Cleona Mclofflin who is our itinerant speech therapist, Brianna Keading who is the senior director of prevention services from Bay State, Stacy Deino who is our consultant who has been wonderful and so helpful
043and Adele Robinson who is consultant that we work with through uh hired through the department of elementary education and care and is from a company called ABT Global. And so just our community partners. So when we originally uh applied for this grant, we did have to identify community partners that we would be working with. And um so we were really fortunate that and it's actually grown um over the year. people found out that we were participating in this and asked if they could be a part and we were like absolutely sure come on down. Um so we have Campus Kinder House uh has been a partner right from the beginning. Head Start has been a partner right from the beginning and Walston Childc Care um and uh Stars and um YMCA. YMCA came on a
044little bit later. Um, and uh, it's it's been really a wonderful wonderful opportunity to get to know those partners, work with people in our community who provide early childhood care and education to the students that we end up getting in kindergarten. So, really having being able to work with them, collaborate, align just all around whether we get the grant or we don't get the grant. I think we all agree the work that we've done in building relationships with these community providers was well worth it. So we'll just go over some of the data that we collected in terms of the needs assessment. So in terms of strengths uh one of the questions that we asked our families and I think we had somewhere around 200 families about that completed um the survey. We also sent
045it out to current kindergarten students. We sent it out to our staff as well as the program staff um in the community in our community partners and the directors. So we we talked to a lot of people and I have to thank Stacy for that and Christopher because they worked on this data. Um so we asked did the care and education that your child received during preschool meet your needs and a a strength for us and the Quinsey community because this isn't just us. This is all of the community providers that students might have attended, not just Quincy Public Schools. So, a little bit over 70% said yes. So, we have some work to do there, but in general, I think given the fact that kids can come from all different places, that that's a
046pretty good number. And how was your child's transition process to kindergarten? For the most part, our families feel like it was pretty smooth. Uh, ranging from somewhat smooth, very smooth to excellent. So very few people thought that it was not smooth. Um and so for again that's another strength for us and for our work with our community partners. So some of we also asked our families what were some of the challenges and barriers to early education and care. Um and so when we in the data that we collected the top three challenges which I don't think anyone will find super surprising is the cost of child care was number one. uh the schedule and and that has to do particularly with our program. I think the schedule can be a barrier. Uh and then weight
047list and lack of openings. And we'll talk a little bit about that, but there's around 300ish or 400 uh families currently today on the waiting list for early care for child care, um preschool, you know, and their vouchers are frozen. So, there are no vouchers. And um you know, it it's definitely it's a big barrier for families. So just some of the quotes um about you know what parents were experiencing from our needs assessment uh in terms of the barriers that there are long wait lists as I mentioned high costs uh there needs to be more options for parents the cost of child care again you see that and that there's not enough available spots we have a waiting list in Quinsey public schools in our public preschool program um and then also of course
048there's waiting lists in all of the private preschools as well. And uh the last quote there, both of my kids kids attended full-time child care, infant prek. We had great teachers here in Quinsey, but it was so expensive. When both of our children were in care, it was close to $50,000 per year. So, very expensive. And so, just in terms of how people rated, um the cost obviously as I said, number one, waiting list was pretty significant. schedule in particular our part-time hours. People, families are definitely looking for at least a six-hour day. Some are looking for longer, including like afterare um was something that we discovered. And again, I don't think we found any of this shocking. Um so the lack of afterchool for preschool students, transportation, I think we thought that might come
049up a little bit higher than it did. Um, but it definitely is a barrier because we have a lot of students, I think 54 actually to be exact, that come to us in the morning and then get busted over to Head Start. Uh, and so without that bus, if there's not that bus in the morning, if your child comes to the part day and you work, you can't get your kid or your child to an after, you know, a afternoon uh, preschool session. And then curriculum and readiness came up, but not as a significant concern. And so I'll just talk about, you know, what we've focused on in terms of the grant and then I will turn it over to Mon'nique. So um some of the initial benefits I think that one of the things
050that this grant really allowed us to do and Cleona will do this much more justice than I will but um is that we we thought outside of the box. So instead, was there another way instead of children leaving or coming part day to our 2-hour a day program, was there another way for us to provide access to our students? And so, um, the Department of Elementary early education and care allowed us in this grant to pilot the idea of an itinerant speech pathologist. Ideally, we'd love to grow this team, but um that would push out into the community precase and provide services, evaluations, access to special education right there in their prek so they don't have to leave. Um and so I think we've found huge success with that and I I'll let Cleona talk
051about that. They're able to provide screenings, evaluations, on-site services right there in the child care. So instead of having to go back and forth to have your child evaluated multiple times, sometimes, you know, students would go to Snuck Harbor, RDLC, you know, all over the city and then end up having to arrange for their child to receive, you know, services maybe at 9:00 in the morning so they could take them for that hour and then go to work after, you know, or a 10-hour halfday morning program and try to find another program after that could take your child for the rest of the day. So this has really, you know, streamlined that. We've also um been working with our outside providers, our community partners, private preks, and Mon'nique will talk about this on a curriculum
052pilot. So, we have teachers from in Quinsey public schools and from community providers piloting the same curriculum with the idea that if we got this grant funding, this could be something that we could potentially we would implement the preschool curriculum and the private providers would implement the preschool curriculum, therefore aligning our curriculum materials. So our students that end up coming to us for kindergarten, the curriculum that they would receive in campus kinder house is the same as what they would receive if they were with us. So that's, you know, something else that we're working on. Some of the things um, you know, in the future that we really want to do is to expand our itinerant team, hopefully adopt new curriculum. We're also about to enter into some work on assessment to align our assessments
053with our community uh care providers to obviously for the idea of to promote a positive transition at preschool and K. And we've started it with this grant offering collaborative professional development and training opportunities. So our preschool teachers with outside provider of preschool teachers learning together getting professional development together. So, we're increasing the private preschool providers ability to provide highquality staff. Um, which in the end benefits us because again, we these are our kids that we are going to have in kindergarten. And so, with that, I will turn it over to Monnique who will talk about our priorities. Good evening. Um, off of um Dr. Perkins um spiel. Um I want to go back to the quote about the human brain develops most rapidly between birth and age five making the preschool years a crucial part
054of a child's education. Um as we just heard, investing in preschool has long-term bene benefits. Um I'm not sure if any of you are aware, but 90% of a child's brain is developed by the time they turn five. Um, studies show preschools provide the stimulation needed during this rapid growth. Quality preschools are equipped with properly trained, qualified, and educated teachers who understand development and core skills that shape how a child learns, interacts, and grows. With that being said, 85% of who you are, your intellect, your personality, social skills, all develop during these formative years. Okay. Do I do it? No, no, I can. Oh, priority one. Sorry. Yeah. Okay. So, in the CPPI grant, we have to address three priorities. Um, and I think for every district, their priorities are different. Um, in our district,
055priority one is um access to quality preschool. So a CPPI classroom has to be a six-hour day classroom. So we cannot implement a full day in our QPS classrooms. So that's where it would come in in our partnerships. Um but that's a long-term goal. So access is is not one of our higher priorities, but we Cleona is one of our um she's helping children get access in their child care. um least restrictive environment. They're getting more time with their with their peers, less transitions. Um and then access to quality curriculum as Dr. Perkins said. Um the partnerships have jumped in with us, some of them, and um piloted the curriculum along with the QPS teachers. So um in the future or if we get the grant we hope to implement the new curriculum identify classrooms
056in the child carees or spots for children um as Dr. Perkins said um build on our itinerant team and by doing that these children won't have to go to our QPS classrooms so it will reduce the weight list in the integrated prek. Oops. Sorry it jumped. Sorry. Thank So in this initial grant um I identified well I researched and identified two curriculums two highly re researched quality prek curriculums frog street and three cheers. Um I reached out to both programs. They were excellent. We had a group um PD with um all of the QPS preK teachers and there was a director from campus kinder house in the Y and they were interested in the programs as well. So all the teachers heard the presentation for both programs and then I let them decide well it
057was on a volunteer basis which curriculum they would like to pilot. We piloted both curriculums for four weeks. It was um the Monday right after Oh, right there. It was 4:28 to 5:23. We just finished this past Friday. Um and both we had a similar theme. It was an animal theme. Both curriculums have nine themes, each one four weeks long. I have a survey that they're going to fill out and we're all meeting on the 11th to discuss pros and cons of both. and hopefully we can decide on one that we all liked, but the kids I've been in all the classrooms while it's being implemented and the kids loved it. So, it's going to be a tough decision. Um, but we did have six QPS teachers and three community- based teachers that volunteered to
058to support this effort. So, it's been great. If we get the grant, we'd like to implement a high quality researchbased curriculum in all QPS preK classrooms. Um the joint PD and opportunities, which happened actually during the pilot, too, because some teachers from Snug were doing the same pilot as some from RDLC. So, there was a lot of collaboration going on, which was great, as well as with the um community preschool teachers. Um and as Dr. Dr. Perkins said we're working on hopefully aligning assessments and screenings the tools um cuz right now the ones that they're not everyone's using different tools so we need to figure out so that we're all on the same page when they go to prek and now priority three. Um hi so um as Dr. Perkins said, "My name is Cleona
059McGlaughlin and this is my first year in Quinsey public schools and I was very excited to come over um to be part of this grant and initiative." So I started seeing students within uh four of the five named partnerships as Dr. Perkins says, the why came um has come on as the program has already started. So um the four of the five child cares um I have been going into the program since December. Um so just a few months now. uh in that time I now have a case load of 21 preschool students. I have completed 11 full and comprehensive speech and language evaluations and I have completed 18 screenings. Um so I just wanted to go down a little bit I suppose and kind of just um give just examples because whilst there are
060numbers and they're great I think it's really what it means to the um on the ground what it means to the students and the families of Quinsey. So, first of all, um I think it's really really key is the accessibility to families. So, of the students, three of these students were in um the child carees that I go into. Prior to this grant starting, they had uh had been evaluated and were qualified and deemed um eligible for speech and language therapy services through Quinsey Public Schools um preschool department. um as a lot of families are now that was um it would mean sorry to backtrack that would mean they were offered a slot it's typically 30 minutes a week so it could be we'll say 10:00 on a Tuesday for I would say the large
061majority I don't have figures but for um a large majority of families that's just completely inaccessible um most families um have working parents now um so it was just these three particular students they had begun fund speech and language therapy services. The families wanted it. They recognized the need. Their child qualified, but then they had to cease bringing them purely because they logistically could not get them there. And again, I think that's um so it must be such an awful feeling for a family. I'm a mom and that's something I couldn't do. I couldn't just leave my job to bring my child to a 30-minute session. But I think for the families that must be an awful um predicament to be in where there's no way around. So the child cares um when I started
062working them they said to me hold on like you know we have our little Jimmy over here and this is the situation. So I did a either a rescreen or a re-evaluation depending on how long it had been since their initial evaluation and uh two of the three recqual like um were still elig eligible I should say and so now they're receiving weekly speech and language therapy services which they again were eligible for but it was just because the families logistically couldn't get them there and that's just the the three that we know of. And remember again we are um so far because this is just a first initiative this is the first roll out there's just four childare programs and when we think about how many students there are in Quinsey and how many
063child care programs there are how many more students are out there today that this may also be applicable to the next thing is the collaboration with teachers often we'll see on IEPs that there is um consultation put on um I often will put on consultation kind of once a month and when you're in a classroom within a school that happens kind of naturally and more often than not more often than the 15 minutes you're bringing the child back, you're having a quick check in with the teacher, giving them recommendations, etc. When a student though is in the preschool out in the community, we can recommend these collaborations and consultations, but in reality on the ground like how does that happen? How does that logistically happen that a speech and language therapist that's working in Quinsey
064public schools is then going to potentially collaborate with a a teacher in Head Start? It's very logistically difficult and not impossible, but it it's very hard. This happens so easy. It happens all the time, every day in my job. One example being I have a little friend who I work with and he has like a serious fear of missing out. He wants to be at every gathering, every social event. And um he's three and a half and when I'm with him, he's listening to, you know, hear where the teacher's going because they're in the room next door. So her and I uh spoke because when he knows I'm coming, he's asking he's at the door, but then when he's with me, he's kind of waiting to see if the class is going anywhere. So with
065the teacher, we spoke about um how he needs support with his attention. So we then did a first then board. A first then board is a very very simple easy concept. I literally took a picture of myself um and then a picture of the teacher and I it says first then that's it's that simple. Um so it was a visual reminder. He this little boy knows this is his board. He knows he goes and gets it when the session starts. Um he can bring it with me. It started off where I had to remind him regularly during the session first Miss Cleona and then his teacher's name. Um and now it's kind of kind of by the wayside. Um he kind of took ownership for a while and he would remind himself. But this is
066just this is just one example of something that the teacher can then use with this student across other parts of his day then with other students in her classroom and then for her to share that knowledge with other teachers within her setting. So the collaboration just naturally happens and I feel like it's going to um it's um you're working with teachers that don't necessarily have significant uh sped background and that's not to diminish the skills they have um but it really just fosters that collaboration between your knowledge and what they can implement. Um the other thing is culturally how culturally responsive it is. I looked around. I think the team have gone. But um I've worked in two prior um neighboring school districts and I can say that um again just really being mindful of
067the experience for the family because that's why we're here every day and all day. Um I have rang in previous school districts. I have rang parents where I didn't know that English there wasn't their first language. And I'm saying to them just like the translator had said, "I'll call you back." Um, but I have had to go days before I could access because there was a whole protocol you'd have to go through. And in Quinsey public schools, I literally pick up the phone just like they explained. And I there's only been a couple of times because I've got such good background information. There's only been a couple of times that I didn't know English wasn't their first language, but that can be remedied in a minute. I'm calling them back. And again, if any of
068us here are parents, like to think that if you get a call from your your um child's school that but you don't have a clue what they're trying to tell you, that can be very, you know, overwhelming and then you've got to sit and wait days until someone calls you back. Whereas the with this process again it's so cult Quinzy has enabled it to be so culturally responsive and again I think that kind of and it was interesting to hear their presentation but that leads into just the facilitation of the preschool and how important it is and what we're doing and then moving forward to kindergarten and then I'm just going to get a sip of water. Sorry. Um I think another thing is um which is huge is um trust. Getting these families to
069kind of per say trust us. Um and I say trust because the thing about it I think especially when you work under like the special ed umbrella. We throw out the terms disability communica uh sorry disability communication disability IEP um all the time. we just throw it out there as if it's not a big deal. Um the reality is that it is a big deal and um I think education is key and knowledge and for some families when they're getting a phone call to say that we suspect your child may need additional needs, may need additional support, sorry. Then you're going to have an IEP meeting. You're going to we're diagnosing your child with a disability. Again, this is something we do every day. But but for families, this can be extremely overwhelming. Um I
070know I sat in my son's first IEP meeting last year and I started to cry and I was like I've sat in these all my life like this not all my life but for quite a significant period of time and it really gave me a sense for families of how intimidating this is. And the wonderful thing about this program is that if we were to um receive a referral from early intervention or from a pediatrician or from a school or even a parent before this grant came along, there's kind of like I suppose a disconnect where we're just people at the other end of the phone until they meet us and it can be very very scary and intimidating. Whereas what I found is that these families, they have a trust with their child care.
071They are leaving their children in these people's care every single day. So I have found it wonderful that you've kind of got over that barrier because when the teacher or the director or the staff member that they are leaving their child with is recommending that I'm a to come in and meet their child, it's just such an ease. It's such a transition. And one example, there was a student recently who the teacher has felt um for a while that the student need additional services and the families uh the family I should say, sorry. It's just something that they weren't um in a place to, you know, to move forward with at that time. Um and then after some months of um discussing this, whenever I started working in this particular child care, the teacher said,
072"Well, we have a speech and language therapist that could just do a screening. All they're going to do is a screening. they're just going to chat with the student for like 15 minutes and the parents were okay with that. Um they were open to that. I then spoke with them on the phone. I was able to tell them what I had seen of course their child's many strengths but why in which I felt that a full speech and language evaluation was necessary. The child is now going to be receiving speech and language services. But this is after one year of the child care trying to encourage the family to um come on board. And I say come on board because again it is a it can be a very big and daunting and intimidating process.
073Um and I think by being in their child's centers that eradicates it. But I think the biggest thing for me which I was surprised was the screenings how imperative and valuable they have been. They've really become um like a consultation to parents. So typically what happens is um before this grant came on board is that if a teacher had concerns or was questioning the the communication needs of a student in their class logistically they have to often collect a little bit of data so they had something to like discuss with the family. They have to catch mom or dad or whoever guardian is at pickup. Often you know families are rushing um out the door. They then have to h catch them and kind of discuss with the family. I have these concerns about your
074students communication needs and I think you should kind of look into it a bit more. And again going back to like being assumptious that we know what the family needs to do with this information. Often families don't because why would they if they don't work in this world? Well, okay, you're telling me this information but now what do I go to the pediatrician? Some families know they've aged out of early intervention. Um and so then they have to and all of this t takes time. It cuts away at the time. And as Monique said, these this three to five year age gap is so imperative. It's so vital that early intervention works. The earlier we can get in and get them these services. So in this process, months can go by, absolutely months, just to
075get the the information to the parent for them to then have to mull over what do I do with it? They don't know what to do. So what we've been doing is that I generated a screening form. All the teachers have it across the four uh centers. they can speak with the family just explain and then it often seems again very easy like nonchalant that we have a speech language therapist here she's just going to do a screening the families obviously give consent to do that um I'm in each of the four centers every single week so within the following week I do the screening um and once I do that I have a consultation with the teacher there and then what I see what I'm hearing what I if I'm recommending a full evaluation
076or not and then I call the parents typically I call the parents that day. Um the longest it's been is 24 hours. Um during that time I speak with the parents again I express what I've seen whether I'm recommending a full speech and language evaluation or not. And twofold to why I think that's so beneficial is that if I am recommending a full evaluation, it's that initial contact and explaining why in which I think that a rec a full evaluation should happen and just to walk them through these are the next steps. But I think even what's been surprising to me is if they don't need a full evaluation, if they're doing just fine, it's educating the families of your your child's doing great, like these speech sounds that they're not producing, that's totally okay.
077And they're not expected to produce that until they're six. I'm giving them like the developmental norms over the phone. and it's then like buffering children that would possibly and most likely be coming in through Quinsey public schools for a full evaluation, you know, using resources when that's not necessarily, you know, appropriate um for the student um at the time. So that's been I think the most surprising um wonderful thing and in that like I say the students are able to stay in their program as well. So, I know um Cleona has added just some quotes here from families that you know you can take a look at that I think everywhere Cleona goes, everybody loves her. I mean, they love them both and I think they're so grateful for the two of them. Um but
078she's definitely a rock star in in the prek world. Uh and so just some of our goals that as we mentioned that we would like to do with priority 3 is we'd love to expand this model. you I think we all feel that it's been very very successful and we'd love to add um I think the next thing we would all agree that we would add would be something for behavior and social emotional support out to that could go a person that could go out to the the uh private preks because we hear that a lot um that students aren't successful and it's because of behavioral issues. Um, and we'd love to eliminate the midday uh bus travel um if we if we could or decrease it. Um, and then um provide uh you know
079more opportunities to get some of those families off the weight list that could attend the half-day program. And so where we are now, we are at the point where we are working on our strategic plan. Um, and so just you see there some of the things that we're working on. We've done a lot in a short amount of time. Um, which I think we're all very proud of. And so we'd love to adopt a curriculum. We would love to be able to align that uh with some of our preschool our community partners are already agreeing to pilot it. We'd love to expand that. Um, we'd love to standardize our assessments and align those with our community providers. We definitely think that that is time to do that. Um what we'd love to increase accessibility to
080special education services um and you know be able to as we said provide services in an inclusive setting which would be their community locations. I I already mentioned expand the itinerant team um and and just continue to align in terms of professional development, preschool, uh things like that uh with our community partners. We do believe that um doing this work will support workforce development, especially for our community providers because the the requirements for what you need to be an EEC licensed um educator are very different than what you need for uh to be a teacher in Quinsey public schools. And oftent times, you know, I think that the level of education is just different. And so, uh, we'd love to be able to provide some more opportunities for professional development, work collaboratively with our Quinsey
081preschool teachers, and in the end, that is going to increase the level of high quality educators that are out there providing these services to our students in these community-based partnerships. Um, and I think the more support that we can get, especially provides, you know, with um, consultation models like Leona is doing, being in community- based provider classrooms because there is high turnover in some of our community-based provider sites and the directors definitely acknowledge that in in this work that they see a lot of turnover and so I think to be able to provide support, education, professional development so that they know that they're these teachers are not alone and that we can actually help them um to provide the best possible quality care for our students. And then ideally, dream world, we'd love to offer
082some full day classrooms, uh CPPI funded classrooms. I we don't know if if you know feasibility and that the grant only goes so far, but I think we could start by looking at potentially offering CPPI funded slots in some of our um community-based provider locations. So therefore decreasing the weight list, also opening up some potential spots in our own prek by doing that. So those are the things that we're working on. Um, we had a meeting on Tuesday with our leadership team that was very successful and, you know, we'll keep doing that. So, we hopefully will get the grant. And then this just kind of sums up where we are. Um, all of the things that you've already heard us talk about. Um, and so just to end with the things that we've done, some
083of the things that we didn't really go into, we also did cost modeling with our private preks. Um and um we are you know as I said you know working currently on our strategic plan uh and that is our presentation and we'd be happy to answer any questions. Great. Thank you very much for the presentation. Um when when would we hear about the 500,000? So the grant actually hasn't come out yet. Um we do know that we're we have been told that we can apply for up to $500,000. Uh, and I did actually just reach out to our contact at EEC to ask when it was going to be released. Um, and they said didn't give us a date basically, but um, we're assuming that it's going to be due probably at the end of
084June, we think. So, um, that so we're not really sure, but we know it's coming. It is already allocated money. So, we do know that it is coming. Um, so, okay, we'll let you know. And I was going to say I know the IEP is definitely um scary. I'm first one I went to was over 20 years ago and I still remember how scared I was sitting in that really small chair at the table. I can still bring myself back there. It was very scary experience. Um Mr. Bgoli great presentations. I think every legislator should get the um quote from Angela the so they understand the importance of uh early child education and a lot of people understand that kindergarten is not required in this state right um and if you do go in other
085communities you pay for it correct is fortunate that we uh it's funded and um our kids are are given that opportunity to to grow. Um um it sounds like the model that you're talking about is the old chapter one model where if a person was in a private school, open school and they qualify, they would get services. Is that what is this? Is this similar? Yeah. Similar. Yeah. And correct me if I'm wrong, but if a kid qualifies, it's it's it doesn't cost anything. Am I correct? if they're in a um if they qualify for services. Correct. They don't I mean they're not paying us anything. Is that what you mean? Yeah. Yeah. No. Okay. All right. Well, again, some of the stuff we um pay for in the state, which is I think nonsense,
086a lot of it. um this is front and center the most important thing because it's our future and absolutely um it's so it's so critical for their development. So yeah, we agree there's actually studies that show that children that go to preschool um wait I have it written down um they attend Hold on. Children who attend quality preschool programs are documented as having better social skills are less likely to become involved in crime, more likely to graduate from high school and attend college. So, it is it's huge. I just my own two grandchildren that I they both can read and they're not they just Yeah. One just entered kindergarten and other one's going to they're both reading. I mean, that was unheard of before and that it it's attributed to their preschool experience. So, it's
087it's just so it's a no-brainer. And we we do have I I totally agree with you, Mr. Begoli. And one of the things that we did through our work is that we do have at least about 15% of our kindergarten population that have no early childhood experience, right? None. And so although it might not seem that significant, it is when you're you're starting kindergarten and you're coming in next to your grandchildren, you know, it it it absolutely starts them at a disadvantage, right? And our our families who are uh disadvantaged um cannot access this as readily and they are put behind the as you said behind the eightball from the get-go, right? and they're paddling upstream for the rest of their school careers. The whole school career, right? Yeah. So, again, this is so important
088and the legislature, the governor need to understand this. Um, I mean, she went to Harvard, so I assume she's fairly bright. Um, get on board, get with the program. So, but thank you for the presentation. It was terrific. All right, Mr. Gro. Thank you. Um, first, welcome to Monnique and Cleona. It's great to have you here. Um, second, uh, way back when I was on the city council when we passed full day kindergarten and my kids were some of the first ones that went through it and I saw a a complete change in their growth. And so I understand a value um the education they went through preschool early on. Um every couple of years this body sits and we talk through priorities and we uh have yellow stickies and we put them up on
089the board and you pick your own priorities. And the last time we did that mine was universal prek and I believe in that strongly for all of the reasons that you laid out in your presentation. Um I you know I kind of follow what's happening at the state uh politically. I know Governor Hilly has been a big proponent of universal prek and this kind of the seed money and I think this grant we got this grant it was announced last April right a year ago April and then they had another round in September I think we were part of 16 schools that got some of the money so we're seeing the fruits of that labor right now which is pretty exciting um I I did have a qu uh one question which is um can
090you just explain to me and I I didn't follow it exactly how this grant reduces the backlog, you know, reduces. So there there's a demand that can't be met. I mean, the co cost is prohibitive, number one, but there's a demand that can't be met be met. And if we're not building more brickandmortar classrooms, how how do you reduce that backlog? Just Yeah. So I think that one of the things that we would like to do is so for students who can remain in their community preschools and we could provide services there, then they're not taking a slot in Quinsey public schools. So therefore then that could potentially free up a spot. There's also the issue, you know, the So that's one way that we're looking at it that that by um you know, if
091I'm not if I'm going to campus Kinder House and I don't have to go for half day to RDLC because now I can stay at Campus Kinder House and I can re um receive those services. Now I've um opened up a spot at RDLC for someone on the wait list. So, we're we're looking at it that way, but we're also looking at it from the lens of there's no vouchers for prek, right? Right now, the the vouchers are are shut off. They're frozen. Um, and vouchers are really hard to get anyways, you know, in terms of like who's eligible for a subsidized preschool uh spot. But we could, if we knew about a family and we got this grant, we could set aside funds so we could subsidize a CP a CPPI spot. It doesn't
092have to necessarily be for a student in our preK. It could be for a student at Head Start, you know. So, we're looking at it all different ways, but we are definitely looking at like what are the ways that can get more kids access to early childhood education. So there's 54 children currently right now. There's 54 sorry there's 54 children that um are spread out between our five partnerships that are bust from RDLC and Snug to their child care. M so if we can provide them speech, PT, whatever it is on their IEP, their service delivery, if it can be brought to them, those 54 children open up 54 spots cuz they no longer have to go to a QPS lo um location. That makes sense. Yeah. And the other thing I was just going
093to say the other huge benefit which we discussed at the meeting is that um the model that's in place right now where there some of them are actually starting at their child care. They're getting on a bus to come to QPS and they're getting on a bus to go back to their child care. Now these are children that we not all of them I can't say an umbrella but it's a lot of these students struggle with transitions. So we're like oh transitions are hard so let's give you a few more. like it's a lot of transitions in the day on and off a bus, different staff members, etc., different classroom setups, it can be significant. So, as well as the numbers, it's like the, you know, the educational experience um for the students. And then
094two final questions on the grant that hasn't opened yet. Yeah. Um so, I saw I think it was the round that we were in was gateway cities only. Do you know if the $500,000 grant is Gateway Cities only? Gateway Cities. I believe so. Yes, it's good because it's narrower, right? I I think we have a really good We've done a lot and we've we're checking all of the boxes that they want us to check. So, I we I think we feel really good about the the chances of us getting the funding. And so, you said the the money is already there. That means it's FY25 money. I think it's FY considered FY26, but it's already allocated just from the go like from the governor. I'm I just not really But it's So it's not in
095it's not in the FY26 budget, so it must be in the FY25 budget, right? Maybe. Yeah. I'm not sure. Okay. But you you think it's there. We've been told it's there. Great. So, good news. All right. Good luck. Okay, Mrs. Cahill. Okay. So, just to clarify, this $500,000 pays for So, all the students are at their own preks, right? And we're paying for supports to go into those precase um partners. Families are paying for their for their preschool um tuition. So, they're paying for all of their So, this $500,000 has nothing to do with helping with the um cost of it could it could potentially like what you what you're saying, but it but right now that's where that is, right? So, I think the goal and just to clarify from you know from your
096perspective is really to bring the the resources to the students and partner. Now, you said four partners. Who are the four that we have been working with? because we have like six up there but is it all of them? Head start um stars wall child care and campus kinder house. Okay. And um so it's basically so we can bring the services in and then the funds would paying for those um specialists right to go in and also for PD for for all for that those um teachers and making sure that also um aligning the curriculum between all of the schools with our with QPS. Okay. And then so when you talked about the survey saying that the transition into kindergarten, was that our students coming in? Did we survey our kids coming into kindergarten to
097see how what that transition was like for them? Quinsey students that um came from some either did just come into kindergarten or you know had maybe are about to um you know those it was two different groups but okay it was our current kindergart. And then um because I think the curriculum piece is huge, right? And like you you know you explained um I think my my real question is the money, you know. Um if we're lucky enough to get this $500,000, that's great and we can do a lot with it, right? To to meet our goals, but then what do we do after that, you know? Um because am I right that we get we have a mandate from the state to have prek in our system by 2033 or something like that? Um
098I don't think we don't have a mandate to have universal prek but we have always you have to provide services for students who are when they turn three. Um so for students who are have you know uh needs like a special education needs or um so you do we do have that and so how we do it and I would say I think pretty much every other district around does it is that they have the integrated model which is you know half the class is students on IEPs and half the class are what you call typically developing peers. Okay. So I I misunderstood that there was like some mandate out there for universal childare. the governor is that's one of her priorities. Um but it hasn't been but we haven't it hasn't it hasn't been
099given to us as like a mandate. But I do believe that this work that we're doing right now um and the the funding that she is allocating towards um you know early preschool opportunities is moving us toward that direction. So whether or not that will actually end up passing and being something we have to do I I don't know. But it certainly is heading in that direction. So I I I think when you talk about the turnover for um prek and you know in the in the preschools and um the what the pay scale for the teachers in a preschool setting is is minimal. It's terrible. Um, and I and I think if we're investing money and time in to professional development for staff of, you know, of these partners and then they find that
100they're not getting paid enough for the work that they're doing and they have to transition into another career now that kind of that investment is just being turned over. You know, I think we should be thinking about how we can find a way to make that career a little more sustainable for like if we can I don't know, make an investment in a stipens or something for them. Can do that. Yes. You know, I Yeah, if we can do that because I think that if we're investing in them, that's that's one of the problems that I think that we see with that um that set of that is one of the things that's allowable with the grant is to try to help like offset that. So, I think that's important. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
101Thank you guys for all the work you're doing. Um, and just hearing you both speak about I'm obviously Dr. Perkins too, but hearing you both speak about the work that you're doing. Um, and just it it's obviously personal to you and that's fantastic. It's just that's exactly what our young youngest kiddos need. Um, so and I just I can't help but feel that this is not only just going to help the kids that are struggling as they come into kindergarten, but also the kiddos like Mr. Mr. Bgalie was describing his grandsons, you know, um the kiddos that already come into kindergarten kind of that leg up that they're kind of waiting for the teacher to have all that attention for those kiddos to bring them up and they're kind of reading a book in the
102corner as they already know the curriculum in kindergarten. I think kindergarten is the toughest grade where you have kids coming in that are just all over the place. They have different backgrounds and what they've been prepared for. So, um I think this is going to help the kiddos at the top as well. um where the teacher is going to be able to eventually kind of know what to expect when they come in just like any other grade teacher has, you know, the built the years built on in the previous prior to them coming there. Um so I think that's great uh that we're going to be able to um address that as well. Is the plan to include So we have more prek programs in Quinsey than just those partners you described. Is the plan
103to reach out to all of them or um I'm just not sure. I I understand that that we've picked some of them and some of them have asked to come on board. What about those other programs is there? Yes. So, we would love to include as many as possible. You know, I think um the issue does become funding because, you know, like Cleona is only one person, so she, you know, there's only so much time in the day to be able to get to the different um childcare settings. But yes, we would I mean ideally like even things like as simple as curriculum of professional development um with the more the marrier. So we started I don't think we really at least I didn't really think that this would take off as well as it
104has or as much as it has with the um with our community partners but they've really been amazing and everybody wants to participate. So yes, I think we would love to and there is a list you can get access a list online. So, um, we would love to reach out to as many as possible. And I know Mon'nique has has done a really nice job, uh, working with the partners that we currently have, but going out doing observations, getting to know those directors, you know. So, we that's, you know, something we'd love to expand if we were to get this grant. Yeah. No, that's it's a lot of work. And I think, um, I'd love to see, as Mr. Kale was kind of talking, you know, you have that this pot of money, where is
105it going to go toward? And I I agree. I mean, families are saying the cost of childare. I had three in pre-k all at the same time. I know exactly. You know, it's very it's a financial hardship and um especially for families that are just kind of going getting back to work and it's a real kind of time in your life that you don't have you're not flushed with any, you know, right with money usually at that time in your life. So, I think um this really unfortunately doesn't seem to really address that too too much. I know you said it can, but I'd love to see those funds go more toward getting services for all of our, you know, kiddos in in any prek program in Quinsey to just try to get to them
106because I'd hate the, you know, the family that just can't quite get to a 10:00 in the morning um service meeting for us. Um, so I so I'd love for us to be able to widen that. Um, but I know that's it's not going to go very deep once you widen it. So hopefully that funding continues that we'd be able to that's sort of my next question is like what so if we get a grant for 500,000 I know I'm looking probably beyond what anyone has uh plans for but what do we do that like once we've kind of established this path what do we do if there is no money on that third year or what what happens then I we'd have to talk about that with you find out you know what what
107we can do and you know what what the budget is at that time. Um you know we'd have to have that conversation. From all the districts that I've reached out to and talked to um when I first came on board there some of them like LOL Salem they're all in their second round of they call it implementation. Um I haven't met anybody who's been awarded a grant and then they didn't get it the second time around. Yeah. I just worry about federal funding or you know what I mean just things being pulled back that we've now implemented and that families are coming to rely on you know is that's what happens is it's a good you know thing that we're doing to be proactive but then after a few years it's something we already do
108and now pulling it back is not something we want to get into. So yeah hopefully that just continues to be able to be supported at the federal level. Um yeah this is all great stuff. I'm excited to see uh where this goes and I think um this is great. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you guys. Great job.