Parent and public participation greatly increased after the Covid pandemic forced the meetings of School Leadership Teams and Community and Citywide Councils online. I myself was able to present to as many as three CECs in one evening, when I no longer had to travel long distances to each meeting. And yet the Emergency Order that the Governor issued in mid-March 2020 has now lapsed that allowed these meetings to be held virtually has now lapsed.
The following is a letter the Education Council Consortium plans to send
to the Governor, urging him to allow the continuation of virtual
meetings, if an SLT or CCEC chooses to do so. Please sign the letter before Wed. June 30 at 7 AM.to support this proposal.
Two bills have been introduced in the State Legislature to amend the Open Meetings Law and allow online public meetings to continue, S7261 by Sen. Brad Hoylman and A8134, by Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou. The Senate bill would allow public meetings to be conducted both in-person and online at the same time; the Assembly bill would require that a site is provided to the public to participate in an online, in case they do not have internet access at home. But neither bill has a chance of passing until the Legislature reconvenes, which won't likely happen until next year. The only one who would be able allow online public meetings to persist at this time is Gov. Cuomo.
__________
As you know the
Governor has lifted the COVID-19 restrictions. This means the
Executive Order that enabled CCECs to meet virtually has expired. We
believe the virtual platform has enhanced parental engagement and we
should be allowed to continue virtual meetings if each CCEC chooses to
do so.
The Steering
Committee has drafted a sign on letter for members of CCECs, SLTs and
DLTs to sign (see below). The letter also allows for other parents and advocates to sign at: https://tinyurl.com/OMLWaiver2021.
The sign-on form
will be open through 7AM Wednesday June 30th.
The Honorable Andrew
M. Cuomo
Governor of New York
State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
Dear Governor Cuomo:
We, the undersigned
members of Citywide/Community Education Councils, School Leadership
Teams, and District Leadership Teams, request a wavier from the Open
Meetings Law that requires these bodies to hold in-person public
meetings.
Citywide/Community
Education Councils (CCECs), School Leadership Teams (SLTs) and District
Leadership Teams (DLTs) are part of the New York City public school
governance structure intended to enable parents to not only observe
important decision making processes at the school and district levels,
but also to provide comments and feedback on issues that are important
to students and families.
As permitted under
Executive Order 202.1, these bodies have held public meetings remotely
since mid-March 2020. Many have found that the number of attendees has
greatly increased in remote meetings. It is not surprising that parents
with school-aged children found it much easier to attend meetings from
the comfort of their own homes without the need to arrange for child
care or transportation. It also should be taken into account that the
NYC Department of Education provided free internet-enabled devices to
families who needed them, allowing more families access to virtual
meetings and engaging in the school governance process.
Virtual meetings
have also eased the burden on parent members of CCECs, SLTs and DLTs,
who volunteer their time to serve on these bodies. For parent members
who have children with disabilities, some of whom require specialized
care, remote meetings have allowed them to fulfill their duties with
more ease. The parents of New York City’s youngest students have found
it more accessible to attend, when they no longer require childcare at
home in order to do so. Members of the Citywide Councils have also
benefited from remote meetings, which eliminate the need for traveling.
For those members who do not own a personal vehicle, traveling by
public transportation can often take hours within five boroughs of New
York City. Overall, on many levels and for many reasons, parent
engagement has increased dramatically with the inclusion of virtual
meetings, something we hope you will continue moving forward.
We ask that you
issue an Executive Order that exempts these bodies from in-person
meetings and gives an option to continue meeting virtually. The NYC
Department of Education has also noticed the increase in the number of
parents participating in a variety of meetings and supports this
request. Perhaps there may be a requirement that bodies opting to
continue remote meetings conduct some minimum number of meetings
in-person. We believe such an Executive Order will greatly enhance
parents’ ability to engage in public schools and allow us to better
develop future parent leadership, and are happy to partner with you in
crafting a solution that meets the needs of parents across the five
boroughs.
Thank you for your
consideration.
