From: Dan Drmacich a href="mailto:dandrmacich123@gmail.com">dandrmacich123@gmail.com>

Sent: Monday, June 12, 2023 at 11:16 AM

To: David Long, Sean Smith, Dave Atias, Black Parents Association, David Kurtz and 81 others...

Cc: Adrian Hale, Wade Norwood

Subject:  6/9/23 Coalition Meeting Summary

Attendance: Don Bartalo, Joe Simson, John Boutet, Chojy Schroeder, Howie Maffucci, David Hursh, Caterina Leone-Mannino, Isaiah Santiago, Lila Alshehri, Ed Donnelly, Rev. Cunningham, Dan Drmacich, Regent Adrian Hale

Discussion & Decisions:

1. Regent Wade Norwood was unable to attend, Regent Adrain Hale was welcomed, as was Reverend Cunningham.

2. David Hursh gave a report on the status of the Board of Regents Blue Ribbon Committee for Developing New Graduation Expectations & Assessments. We agreed that:

A. The Committee must urge the Regents to create policy to allow interested schools to use Performance Based Assessments for assessment and accountability purposes without being required to additionally require students to take & pass Regents Exams for graduation, as doing so will severely dilute and do harm to the emphasis of the Performance Based Assessment process on its intended skill development, curricular emphasis, student-relationship development, student autonomy and intrinsic motivation, and that

B. The Coalition should draft a letter to the Board of Regents, urging them to follow through on our recommendations. (I am asking David to work with me to draft this letter.)

3. We also discussed the NYSED's Project PLAN initiative that is asking for volunteer school districts to submit proposals to the NYSED to become Pilot Schools for implementing Performance Based Learning & Assessments, and are strongly recommending that the NYSED & Board of Regents follow the same recommendations as in #2 A & B, above.

Caterina, who is interested in developing a PLAN Proposal, stated that having the flexibility to only focus on PBAs & project-based learning would be a very important part of the further development of any school.

* We further urged Regent Hale to meet with individual Regents members to lobby for their support for these recommendations. Regent Hale stated that he was very interested in achieving the changes we recommend and would meet with other Regents to discuss the need for systemic change.

4. Isaiah, who is an RCSD BoE candidate in the upcoming Democratic Party Primary Elections, indicated his support for our recommendations, as well. He also shared that he will appear on the Tuesday, June 13th, WXXI Evan Dawson Radio show at noon & invited us to listen & call in questions.

5. Dan urged all of Coalition members, Regent Hale & organizations they may be connected to, to write, call, email, text, or phone U.S. Congressman Joe Morelle to support the Bowman Congressional Bill for giving states more flexibility with ESSA requirements for high-stakes standardized tests. Morelle's phone # is: 232-4580. His email address is

repmorelle@mail.house.gov

For more information on the Bowman Education Bill go to: bowman.house.gov › 2021 › 7Rep. Jamaal Bowman Unveils Green New Deal for Public Schools

6. Rev. Cunningham expressed her concern over the impact Regents testing has on the teaching & learning of RCSD students and the impact exam results have on their entrance to colleges. Dan explained that the use of Performance Based Assessment results and Portfolio Exhibitions vs. Exam results is a meaningful, research-based alternative, used by NY's Consortium Schools, that should be used by more NYS schools; especially those in the RCSD.

7. Chojy expressed her concern for ELL students who are leaving RCSD schools because of their difficulty with Regents Exams & that PBA would be a great help to them. Regent Hale strongly supported her concerns.

8. Lila shared some very impressive Coalition website developments she has been working on.

More to come!

9. Dan urged Coalition members & others to read the book, "Street Data" by Safir & Dugan, to learn of a meaningful way for schools to transform to a more student-driven/centered school system.

10. John Boutet expressed his concern for supporting neighborhood, community schools & neighborhood development as a goal that could be aided by PBA & PBL .

11. We ended our meeting at approximately 5:30, and agreed to schedule another meeting with Regent Hale & hopefully Regent Norwood, to discuss progress on the Blue Ribbon Committee & the PLAN Pilots & other issues.

12. We agreed to meet again on Friday, June 23rd @ 4:00 pm, by Zoom.