New York City Council Will Hold a Hearing On The NYC DOE's Restructured School Support System on October 1, 2015

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Hearing on DOE’s Restructured School Support System

The City Council’s Education Committee, chaired by Council Member Daniel Dromm, will hold an oversight hearing, “Oversight: DOE’s Restructured School Support System”.  Below is information regarding the upcoming hearing:

Hearing on:    Oversight: “DOE’s Restructured School Support System”

Date:              Thursday, October 1, 2015

Time:              1:00 p.m.  (*public testimony is estimated to begin at or after 3:00pm)

Place:              Council Chambers – City Hall

In January 2015, Chancellor Fariña announced a new streamlined school support system, dubbed “Strong Schools, Strong Communities,” to align the responsibilities of supervising and supporting schools in the offices of the district and high school superintendents.  Under the new system, which takes effect in the current 2015-16 school year, there will be clear lines of authority and accountability under the direction of the superintendent.  The reforms to the structure also include the replacement of the 55 Children First Networks with seven geographically based Borough Field Support Centers (BFSCs).  The new, geographically-based BFSCs, which opened in July, are providing integrated supports to schools across areas of instruction, operations, including finance and human resource support, and student services including health resources and counseling, support to English Language Learners, and support to students with disabilities.  This oversight hearing would provide a better understanding of the restructured school support system.

We invite members of Community Education Councils, parents, students, educators, advocates, and all other stakeholders and interested members of the public to testify at this hearing.  Testimony will be limited to 2-3 minutes per person to allow as many as possible to testify.  Although the hearing starts at 1:00 p.m., the Administration (Department of Education), as well as other witnesses (such as elected officials) have been invited to testify and answer questions from Council Members at the outset, so we do not expect to hear from others until approximately 3:00 pm or later.  Please make sure you fill out a witness slip on the desk of the Sergeant-at-arms if you wish to testify.  If you plan to bring written testimony, please bring at least 20 copies.  If you are unable to attend the hearing and wish to submit written testimony, please email your testimony to jatwell@council.nyc.gov.

Please share this information with any interested groups or individuals. Thank you for your assistance and we look forward to seeing you on October 1^st!  Please note - hearing dates and times are subject to change.  For information about hearings and other events, check the Council's website at http://council.nyc.gov/html/action/calendar.shtml or, if you'd like to receive email notices of upcoming hearings, you can sign up at the following link http://council.nyc.gov/html/action/signup.shtml.  All hearings are open to the public.