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Announcer: Welcome to Mondays with Maria, presented by Addition Financial Credit Union. Here's OCPS Superintendent, Dr. Maria Vazquez.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Hi everyone. Nancy Alvarez is here with me to talk about my town halls this year.
Nancy Alvarez: Oh my gosh. And you had so many. You just wrapped up in person town hall meetings, 22 of them.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yes.
Nancy Alvarez: That's unbelievable. With parents, guardians, and employees. And then of course, those 10 virtual town hall meetings. That you had as well with teachers from across the district. So let's start with the in-person town halls, and tell us a little bit about how they went.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yes.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yeah. So I know you said 22. Last year we did 22 in my first 100 days. So this year I kind of felt like a little bit of a reprieve with time. They were really wonderful. I love being able to meet parents, give them an opportunity to know me a little bit better. And this year, the biggest difference was that we were responding to their questions. You remember last year, the goal was to get feedback on what things were going well, that we needed to continue to do, what things weren't going well that we really needed to look at. And because I believe communication is so important, we ask questions around communication to see what's the best way to communicate. Are we communicating enough? What do you want to hear about? And so this year it was very interesting to hear their questions. And we were able to, in some cases, they were specific to their child, get direct support for them and also share. For other parents if you have concerns, how you can go about getting resolution, whether it's at the school level, at the cadre level, or at the district level. And then we got to answer questions and, and give information about OCPS.
Nancy Alvarez: So the teacher only town halls, let's talk about those. Those were virtual. So why did you choose to go the virtual route and how did the topics differ from the in-person community meetings?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Sure. So teachers were al always welcome to come to the face-to-Face town halls. But what I have found is that in some cases, there are some topics that they may not feel comfortable airing in, in front of parents. So it, let's say they have a concern or if their principal might be there, they may not feel comfortable sharing that. So that was one reason we wanted to still give them a, a separate forum. And then second, you know, teachers have so little time, and we wanted to see is there another way that we could provide a forum for them to be able to communicate with me and my cabinet that wouldn't require them to leave their family, feel like, oh, I'm not going to be able to go to my son's practice, or I'm not going to be able to, I'm going to have to rush home and cook dinner.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: And so by doing it virtually, they could either do it from home, do it from their school, and at least we cut out that travel time. So it was great to be able to offer that to them. And the questions that the teachers asked really were more specific to school in general. So prior to us settling our contract negotiations, the vast majority of the questions dealt with salaries, benefits. And then there were questions about discipline, continuity, and implementation of the code of conduct. We have questions about supports for students with disabilities, students who are second language learners. They were sharing how difficult it is with children that may be struggling with some of these issues and not having as much support as they need. And so in some cases, we were able to clarify why we have to do certain things. For example documenting that a child needs more restrictive placement because they're not getting, they're not successful in the setting that they're in. And in other cases, we were able to make notes and are going to implement some changes for the upcoming school year.
Nancy Alvarez: So real solutions based conversations.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yes. That's the goal.
Nancy Alvarez: Yeah, that's great. Was there a trending topic this year that may result in maybe some changes for next school year?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: So from the parents' perspective the concerns really were varied, if I would say that something came up not as frequent as, as last year, but bullying was a, a concern. And sometimes they didn't have an understanding of how we handle bullying or a common a common comment was that, yes, we've gone through this process, but that child is still at the school. . And helping them understand how the laws have been put in place to offer the parent of the child that's being bullied, a scholarship to go to another school, that doesn't always play well. It doesn't always sit well with the parent. Well, my child's the victim and I'm the one that is being asked to leave my school. And so being able to clarify, being able to have district staff because my cabinet attended the meetings and really connecting them with someone and then following through, I think has built additional trust from the teacher's perspective. I think what the common theme after salaries really was about the supports for children with disabilities mental health supports and second language learners.
Nancy Alvarez: And again, so many of these policies come from beyond the district.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yes. They do
Nancy Alvarez: And it's important people understand that. It sounds like it really went really well again this year. So you're going for another 22 next year?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: So next year we are going to, we are going to continue with the town halls. We're going to continue with town halls in our communities. Probably not 22. And, and there's a reason for that. We are also going to be going through the review or renovation of our strategic plan. So we're going to be having community meetings for that, and that'll give us an opportunity also to engage. But I'm going to add student town halls. And so we are working out the details of what that's going to look like. But my goal is to be able to interact with, I'm going to start with high schools, with all 22 of our high schools with a cross section of students that attend the school. So that'll be new. And then our, what I found this year is that they're so insightful and sometimes their solutions are like, wow, why didn't we think of that? And they get it. Yeah. So they have a voice.
Nancy Alvarez: They have a voice, and they deserve to be heard like everybody else. That's awesome. All right. Well, the school year is winding down.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yes.
Nancy Alvarez: Fast. There are only two more. Mondays left of the 23-24 school year. I have a little girl finishing elementary school, but I'm not going to sit here and cry, so you take it away.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Go ahead. Just, yes. The school year is done. I can't believe it. Graduations start in just two weeks. I was just thinking, we just said happy New Year, right. A, a couple of months ago. But we're thrilled. We're thrilled. It's been another great year. Thank you all for watching. Stay tuned for
Mondays with Maria next week.
Nancy Alvarez: And I think you're going on location, right? Yeah. That's exciting. I can't wait to see where you end up.
Announcer: Mondays with Maria's presented by Addition Financial Credit Union, count us in for every step of your financial journey. Learn more at Additionfi.com. For more OCPS news and information, visit theslice.ocps.net. I'm your announcer, Deivarsi Demezier, a senior at Apopka High School. Thanks for watching and have a great week.