Transcript: Mayor de Blasio, First Lady McCray, Chancellor Carranza Announce Major Expansion of Social-Emotional Learning and Restorative Justice Across All City Schools

June 20, 2019

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Rikaya, I don't think you have to worry about becoming a leader of tomorrow – I think you're a leader of today already.

[Applause]

Thank you for your passion and leadership for so many others. I want to say to all the student activists and leaders in the room – we heard you, your voices mattered, your ideas mattered, and we're here today because of your great work. Everyone give each other a round of applause for that.

[Applause]

And Belmarys, thank you for your great work as an educator – we honor you, we thank you.

[Applause]

And I thought that was a clear and passionate explanation of why social-emotional learning matters so much. Thank you for making it so real and pertinent to everybody. The message today is we are all in this together – students, educators, administrators, parents, the entire City government, all the people in New York City – we are in this together. Now, since we are in this together, I think we can agree on something right here, right now. This announcement today is very hot.

[Laughter]

It is a hot announcement. Everyone agree with that?

Audience: Yes!

Mayor: Hot, hot important announcement. It's also hot in here. So, if you have a jacket, you could take off – I want to say to the distinguished group to my left – I am going to lead the way, it's up to you – if you want to sweat, that's your thing.

[Laughter]

I am not going to go through that. But the real point is the ideas are hot, the progress is hot, and people worked hard. This was an example of listening to a lot of people. Our educators – front line, the folks who make such an impact for our children – they had so much to offer here in thinking about how to get it right. Our parents who see what their kids need, they had so much to say. This came from a lot of hard work and smart work, and a lot of listening. And the idea of this announcement today follows on a series of other things we've done – it is to shake the foundations of our school system because I think one thing that would unite a lot of us is to say, you know, for too long our school system didn't get it right and for too long people's voices weren't heard and we were missing out on so many opportunities to do better.

I said at the very beginning, we were missing it on early childhood education for decades. Now we have Pre-K for All and soon we're going to have 3-K for All.

[Applause]

We were missing out on college readiness – we have a long way to go. We had the most kids go on to higher education last year than we've ever had in our history.

[Applause]

For too many years, we were losing kids, they were dropping out. They weren't able to get to the finish line. Last year we had the highest graduation rate and the lowest drop-out rate in our history.

[Applause]

And everyone here had a lot to do with that. It was also an extraordinary group effort. But it became clearer and clearer that we couldn't go to the next level without really doubling down on social-emotional learning, that that was a piece that was missing and it's missing, honestly, pretty much all over the United States of America. And we have an opportunity to get it right here in the nation's largest city and we have an opportunity to set a new pace for this city and for this country by finally recognizing the whole child, everything going on in their life.

[Applause]

It was also about having a very different conversation about emotional well-being and a very different conversation about mental health, and not acting like these things were not part of people's everyday lives and what they needed to have out in front, out in the open. And this – you may have from time to time heard me praise our First Lady. You may have heard that – well, I'm going to praise her again because when she started this work in 2015 on Thrive, the idea was to take down that stigma that was holding us back, dismantle that stigma and open up a conversation and change this city, change hearts, change minds, save lives. And that's what our First Lady has done. That's what Thrive is done.

[Applause]

And it started with making sure that every single school, 1,800 schools, every single school had access to mental health professionals. Something that was unheard of in the past, but Thrive achieved that. But now we have to go farther. And the idea today is to take that idea that Thrive has made so central and infuse it into everything we do in our schools. Revolutionize the way we think about education and our children by talking about all of them, everything about them, what they need to succeed today and in their future. Many, many people have contributed to getting us to today. I want to shout out some names and you can clap energetically for all of them. The Director of Thrive NYC, Susan Herman. Thank you.

[Applause]

Deputy Chancellor for School Climate and Wellness, LaShawn Robinson –

[Applause]

Alright – I think they liked you, LaShawn.

[Laughter]

They liked you – they really, really liked you. So someone who has done tremendous dialogue and listening to help ensure that educators and public safety officers were all on the same page – Assistant Chief at NYPD for School Safety, Ruben Beltran. Thank you.

[Applause]

A leader in our government who fought tirelessly for the new social workers and that is because he was a teacher himself, he understands it – the Chair of our Education Committee, Council Member Mark Treyger.

[Applause]

The folks who did the work day by day to get the policies right, to really listen, to really hone in on what we needed, all the members of the Mayor's Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline. Thank them all.

[Applause]

And no one will be offended if I say I saved the best for last. Our youth leaders. First of all, thank you, Urban Youth Collaborative.

[Applause]

It's so damn hot in here.

[Laughter]

The Dignity in Schools coalition – thank you.

[Applause]

And Integrate NYC – thank you.

[Applause]

And so the idea from the beginning was to hear people in a new way. Chirlane, when she started to Thrive, went and listened to people all over to see for almost a year and what she heard consistently was people were suffering in silence because they had a mental health challenge. Young people felt unheard. They felt their lives were not being reflected in their schools. Thrive was all about breaking down those barriers. And Chirlane and I had a powerful experience after the tragedy in Parkland, Florida. We convened a town hall meeting with students, with student leaders and activists, and what we heard from them – the topic of course was to react to this extremely painful moment in our nation's history and it was, you would think on the surface, just about gun violence. But what it turned into was a much deeper conversation about what our young people needed.

And at one point Chirlane asked them – several hundred students – what they felt about mental health, what they needed, and hands went up and stories were told. People spoke from the heart, young people spoke from the heart, and they said they needed more social workers. They said they needed more people in the school who would understand them and listen to them, more people who had the tools to help them. They said they needed their teachers to get the support and training to be able to help them with their challenges.

We heard it loud and clear. So, for too long, in fact, not only were students left out there without the support and the tools, our teachers were left out there without the support and the tools. They wanted – I've talked to so many teachers, so many educators for years and years, they always want to go to the next level. They always want to reach every child. They feel they're putting everything they got on the line every day, but a lot of times they feel there's not the backup they need to achieve the mission. I'll tell you no one wants those social workers more than our teachers. This is going to make a huge difference for them. It's going to help them do the job that came here to do.

This is a moment of change. This is a moment where students are going to get the support they need to be their best selves. Teachers are going to get the tools they need to help a child, the whole child, when there's a challenge or a problem. It's going to help us build a stronger and fairer city. Before a few words in Spanish, I have a very simple quote here that epitomizes why we are making this investment – and you're going to hear from the Speaker in a moment, and I want to say right up front, this is was such a priority for the City Council, such a focus for them, and I commend them, and it's something that Council should be so proud of.

[Applause]

But I listened to the Speaker, I listened to the Council members. I think this quote epitomizes so much of what you feel and it's from another century, so I'm going to read it in its original, but the last word could be obviously people and it comes from Frederick Douglass. He said, "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." That's what today is all about.

[Applause]

In Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, I'm going to turn to my partner in all things, but she has led the way, she has opened minds, she has shown us that something could happen very, very different in this city. And this is a day she has been talking about over the breakfast, dinner, everything – in the car. She has been talking about this day for a long time and she knew it would come and she led the way to this moment. Our First Lady, Chirlane McCray.

[Applause]

First Lady Chirlane McCray: Thank you, Bill. Good afternoon, everyone.

Audience: Good afternoon.

First Lady McCray: It may be a gray and cloudy day outside, but I think we're all feeling our inner sun with this hot announcement and this plan that will transform our school environments. I want to say before I begin that, yes, I am a champion for [inaudible] restorative justice, have been for four years and years, but this would not have been possible without everyone that our Mayor just name but also Sanford Harmony. That was actually the component that helped –

[Applause]

– Give us more of the support and the structure that we needed to make sure that we could do a comprehensive plan from, you know, we're starting in pre-K all the way through K. So, thank you, Dr. Cunningham who is here representing Sanford Harmony – and you'll be hearing from him in a little bit. The pre-K through 12th grade strategy that we are implementing is totally in keeping with what we know about child development and gives our educators much more support.

Now, most of us didn't grow up thinking about strengthening and maintaining our mental health as a work in progress the way we do our bodies but we can. There are skills we can learn to help us regulate our emotions, have more rewarding relationships, and cope with stress and conflict all throughout our lives. And these skills are important for all of us, but they're especially important for our children who are just starting out in life. When we created Thrive NYC, one of our goals was to act early – that's one of our principles – not only to prevent illness and intervene at the first signs of disease, but to provide more children with a strong social-emotional foundation to promote resilience.

Educators in our pre-K classrooms are already emphasizing social-emotional learning to help our youngest New Yorkers. By building this foundation early, children develop stronger communication, decision making, and problem solving abilities, lifelong skills that we all need every day. Students who receive social-emotional training feel the benefits throughout their lives. They are better learners, they are better able to manage stress and less likely to struggle with drug use. They develop more positive attitudes, show better behavior in school, and their academic performance improves as well. Now, thanks to years of work and advocacy by so many people, including, of course, the many young people who are here today, New York City schools will have the most comprehensive and proactive approach to social-emotional learning in the nation.

[Applause]

And that's so important, I'm going to repeat it in Spanish –

[First Lady McCray speaks in Spanish]

Over the next three years, in partnership with National University and Long Island University, we will bring a nationally respected social-emotional learning teaching program called Sanford Harmony into every elementary school in the city.

[Applause]

Now Chancellor Carranza and I just saw the program in action with a great – a wonderful group of kindergarteners, which is one of the reasons why we're both in such terrific moods. We read a book about school year memories and the kids told us what Z, the main character, was feeling. Interactive stories like this are one of the ways – one of the many ways children learn how to recognize and name their own emotions. As students mature, as they get older, we want them to continue growing and strengthening their social-emotional skills. That's why in every middle school and high school our restorative justice curriculum will guide students to look more closely at their own experiences and provide them with support to solve problems and manage difficult emotions.

Restorative justice gives students opportunities to come together and learn to be open and accountable to themselves, their classmates, and the entire school community. Let me share an example, at Meyer Levin Junior High School in East Flatbush, the entire sixth grade gathers for a town hall meeting every day. They cheer on each other's successes and support one another through struggles. When one student shared her worries about the results of her grandmother's custody hearing, there was no jeering or taunting. Her classmates responded with empathy and encouragement. We all need this kind of support sometimes. Most of us know what it's like to try and focus at work while worried about a sick child or if we're distracted by an argument with a spouse.

Well, some students walk into the classroom with tremendous pain or emotional distress. Maybe a fight with a friend left them angry. Maybe they are fearful that their family will be evicted from their home or they are grieving the loss of a family member or a friend. Without the skills and the safe space to talk through how they are feeling they might express their emotions by withdrawing and not participating in class or by drawing attention to themselves with disruptive behavior. I know this well from my own childhood experience. Children have to feel like they can talk about what they are feeling.

The appropriate question to ask in these cases isn't, 'What's wrong with you?' The question to ask is, 'What happened to you? Why are you feeling this way?'

As we proactively provide skills and support for students to help them deal with negative emotions constructively before they become a problem, we will also encourage young people to be accountable for their actions, take ownership, and make things right when they make a mistake. We have already seen a dramatic decrease in suspensions in schools that use restorative justice, and we expect more of the same system-wide. This new approach will enhance learning in the classroom and lessen the time spent out of the classroom, especially for students of color who are suspended at higher rates than their peers.

I am delighted, truly delighted to say that thanks to Speaker Johnson and the New York City Council's leadership that we will add 85 Thrive social workers to help support children in serious emotional distress.

[Applause]

And in partnership with the United Federation of Teachers, our highest need middle schools will train every adult in the school community to support the emotional needs of students, even those in crisis, through the positive learning collaborative model.

[Applause]

That means not only principals and teachers will be trained, but cafeteria and custodial staff, receptionists and classroom aides as well. All these adults touch a child's life. You don't know who a child is going to be talking to or bonding with. It's important for all adults in a child's life to have these skills and be able to reinforce what they're learning. Together, these changes will make our schools better places to learn and better prepare our students to succeed in every aspect of their lives, from the workplace to their relationships, to their physical health and home life. Parents count on schools to help their children grow into healthy, well-adjusted adults, able to navigate the world effectively, but we all benefit when we invest in our young people.

[First Lady McCray speaks in Spanish]

I want to thank you again to everyone who is here today. You can see it really did take a village to pull this one off and I can't thank you enough for getting us to this announcement. This is a giant step for our children and we're not finished yet, so thank you.

[Applause]

Mayor: I'll be quick – now I'm going to introduce our Chancellor. This is someone who truly believes in, has believed throughout his career in the power of social-emotional learning and you're helping to make it happen in the nation's largest city, Chancellor Richard Carranza.

[Applause]

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you all for being here. I recognize so many faces.

Just last night at our Public Education Panel meeting, we had a dedicated group of educators and community people that dutifully every month come and remind us about how important this issue is. And I was biting my tongue, I couldn't say a word last night, but they said we need this now and today is now. So, thank you for being there.

[Applause]

And everybody's commented about the heat. Look, I was born in Arizona. This is just a nice spring day –

[Laughter]

And just think of it as an opportunity for self-moisturizing in your face. Okay. That's how we get through it.

Mayor: [Inaudible]

Chancellor Carranza: You like that? Okay. So, obviously I want to also thank Speaker Johnson who's been just an incredible partner in this work. I want to thank President Mulgrew from UFT, obviously Dr. Cunningham, our Education Chair in the City Council – just a true warrior for children, Mark Treyger, thank you. Susan, thank you for your work with Thrive. Chief Beltran, my brother, thank you. He can also sing and dance, by the way. I don't know if you know this. But, my friends, there is a group that I also want to recognize because we have made it a focus that we will not only hear our student voices, we will give them a place at the table and we will have their policy recommendations reflected and today's a reflection of their policy recommendations. So, I also want to thank Teens Take Charge who are here today as well.

[Applause]

And I'm going to be brief but I just want to say this. I've lived and worked now in five states, I've lived and worked in five urban school systems, and I am so proud of the colleagues that I have here that form part of my cabinet. They are the most knowledgeable, the most passionate, they are the best qualified no matter what anybody says –

[Applause]

– To lead this work. And when I arrived [inaudible] this work was stuck. This work
was stuck. They were the group of educators and leaders that unstuck the work, that listened to our community. And here we are today.

[Applause]

So I want to recognize – you've heard our Deputy Chancellor for School Climate and Wellness, LaShawn Robinson.

[Applause]

Our Deputy Chancellor for Community – not engagement – Community Empowerment, Partnerships and Communication, Hydra Mendoza.

[Applause]

Our First Deputy Chancellor – who is leading with distinction and with such incredible integrity – Cheryl Watson Harris.

[Applause]

Our Chief Operating Officer, Ursulina Ramirez.

[Applause]

Our Deputy Chancellor for School Planning and Development, Karin Goldmark.

[Applause]

My Chief of Staff, Edie Sharp –

[Applause]

And all of my colleagues from the Department of Education who believe – Mark Rampersant is here. Thank you, sir.

[Applause]

– [Inaudible] who believe in this work not because it's work, it's the right thing to do. So, from the very first day from the – I would say the very first conversation that I had with Mayor de Blasio and the First Lady, it was clear to me how much they cared about our students, but it was also clear to me that when the First Lady and I spoke about the importance of social-emotional learning, there was a certain glee in her eye. She has been leading our city and our nation and de-stigmatizing mental health and expanding mental health and social-emotional supports. She and I spoke at length about the role of that work in our schools and how it must be proactive and preventative and give students and teachers the tools that they need to not only reflect upon what they do, but to have the tools and the training to change the way we work with our students.

Needless to say, I'm thrilled to be here today. Today we're coming together around a simple but a common sense approach. When we support the whole child and foster safe and supportive learning environments, our students will succeed. When we keep students in the classroom instead of relying on suspensions, they will succeed – and they're more than just ideas. You see these are proven approaches that we know work. Right here in New York City, you look at District 16 they've led the way. These ideas and approaches work.

I've also seen these ideas and approaches work across the country like in Oakland where implementation of restorative justice led to a drop in the rate of students being suspended from more than 40 percent to four percent in just six years. We know that it works here in New York City with a 12 percent decrease in suspensions that have implemented a district wide restorative model.

This administration has championed social-emotional learning and restorative approaches from day one. Yet skeptics have said if you move away from punitive approaches and focus on keeping kids in schools while also holding them accountable, our schools will be less safe. I say that is a false narrative, it is not true.

[Applause]

And that's what has not happened here in New York City. So under the leadership of this Mayor, Mayor de Blasio, suspensions have gone down 31 percent and NYPD has seen a 29 percent decrease in major crimes in schools.

[Applause]

So it's the proof that this approach can work and it's common sense. If students learn how to resolve conflicts and build relationships with each other and with staff members, they're less likely to act out.

Skeptics said, if you move away from punitive approaches and focus on keeping students in the classroom while holding them accountable, academic outcomes will decline. Well, we're showing that's not true in New York City. Graduation and college readiness rates are at record highs, and dropout rates are at record lows and test scores continue to improve. Again, it's common sense – if students will achieve academically when they're excelling socially and emotionally. So, today we are doubling down and formally expanding our social-emotional learning and restorative justice work to reach every school, not some of the schools, every school in the largest school system in America right here in New York City.

[Applause]

Let me emphasize this – that as much as this approach makes sense based on the research based on New York City statistics, I know as a former classroom teacher and a principal that when we make major policy change, we need to give our practitioners the resources they need to make it work. So, I want to thank Mayor de Blasio, I want to thank our First Lady for that focus today. I want to thank our City Council and our Speaker for prioritizing that, not just an idea but the nitty gritty, how we support our educators to make it a success.

And today I also need to give a shout out because I'm excited to announce that we're deepening our partnership with the NYPD in our schools through a new memorandum of understanding, an MOU that changes the patrol guide. And I want to thank Police Commissioner O'Neill, and I want to thank Chief Beltran for your partnership. Now, my friends, I know for a fact that not every police officer has an MOU in their back pocket and looks at the MOU. But what I can tell you is that every police officer has a patrol guide. So, for this change in how police are in our schools to be in the patrol guide is a seminal moment in our history in New York City. And I want to thank the Commissioner and our Chief for making that happen.

[Applause]

So, today is a big step forward. It's a big step forward for restorative practices in creating those environments in our schools that we know is an enlightened approach and not a punitive approach. My friends, this is the work. Now is the time. We are the people. So let's go and get to work and make sure our communities are the enlightened, supportive, great communities that we're building for today and for tomorrow.

[Chancellor Carranza speaks in Spanish]

[Applause]

Mayor: [Inaudible] That's a really important day. I want to say, Speaker Corey Johnson leads with passion and he is purposeful, and we had many a conversation and he said this was one of the most important things from his point of view, from the Council's point of view, and they said this is what we had to get done this year. And because of his leadership and the Council's, it got done this year. Speaker Corey Johnson –

[Applause]

[...]

Mayor: Thank you.

Well, Dr. Cunningham, it is a very special thing to have a New Yorker come home and do something great for his hometown so let's thank him for all he's doing for us.

[Applause]

You also did a very impressive Oprah Winfrey impression, just giving out the scholarship on the spot. A little dramatic flair there – well done, well done.

Okay, for the media now, questions on this announcement on anything regarding to education and then we'll go to off-topic after.

Dave?

Question: Mayor, can you explain why the Chancellor referred to, or the Chancellor can – what the policy was with the police, the memo of understanding, what it is now and does that change our policy with metal detectors in schools?

Mayor: So, I'll let the Chancellor come up, I'll just do the preface here. For a long time a lot of people have said in this town, we needed to create and approach that was student-focused, that was educator-focused, but also maintains safety, and rebalance the equation, and ensure the voices of educators in their own buildings mattered, and that we were thinking about how to address students and all their needs, not as you heard just the punitive approach that often was there in the past. This is the result of an immense collaboration between NYPD and DOE to get that right, to modernize, to bring us into this moment in history. The approach on metal detectors, as you know, is school-by-school decision-making based on the conditions, but we also know that overwhelmingly we've moved away from metal detectors all over New York City while driving down crime, while driving down violence. With that I'll turn to our Chancellor.

Chancellor Carranza: Thank you, Mayor. So the Giuliani-era MOU really talked about a zero tolerance approach, talked about how police officers would have a significant presence in schools. We know that we are in a much different place, especially with going to root causes and helping to build skills in students so that they don't get themselves in positions where they're either being anti-social or they're breaking the law. So, through a long process – I mean I was here a matter of weeks when I read where we were and I looked at the agreement, I said "no, we're not going farther – we're going to go farther", so I want to give tremendous credit to the NYPD because we have now changed the presence of policing in our schools. Police should enforce the law. They shouldn't enforce the law in schools as a matter of course. There are better ways of producing good academic and social-emotional results that don't require law enforcement. But NYPD is in a different place as well. With neighborhood policing there's a different philosophy about how you enforce the law, how you communicate, how you interact with a community, I want you to know that our school safety agents under the leadership of Chief Beltran are embracing that neighborhood policing orientation where they see themselves, our school safety agents, as a part of the fabric of the schools – all of that is encapsulated in the MOU.

Now one of the things that I think people will say and I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't already out there, "well teachers will no longer have access to school safety agents." That is absolutely false. If a teacher needs that support, they will still have that support, that's not going anywhere. What's different is how we engage, and when we engage, and what that kind of engagement looks like. So, we want kids to feel safe and secure, we want parents to know their schools are going to be safe and secure, and the MOU, which you will all have an ability to read, encapsulates that philosophy in a very real way.

Question: Just a follow-up on that, can you give us a couple of top-line examples—

Mayor: Did you have—

Question: I think we have the same the question.

Mayor: Okay, fine, fine.

Question: —of what's changing, you know, when did you used to call a school safety agent and now you're not?

Chancellor Carranza: Yeah, so I'm going to ask our Deputy Chancellor LaShawn Robinson to give you some very specifics on that.

Mayor: I think with those heels you don't need to—

[Applause]

Deputy Chancellor LaShawn Robinson, Department of Education: Yeah, I think I'm good, thank you. So thank you so much for that question. What's changing will be joint training with school teams and school safety around de-escalation, the effects of trauma on young people, conflict resolution, school safety will be invited to participate in training on social-emotional learning, restorative practices. We will have opportunities for school leaders to weigh in on the performance of school safety agents in their school communities, and in particular, if there's an incident regarding, for example, a uniform issue or cutting class, we expect our educators as they do every single day to be the first people that are addressing young people for those issues. If there is a safety related issue or a crime kind of issue, than we expect school safety agents to continue to partner with us to keep our schools safe and respond.

Question: Are there specific areas where students in the past were getting summons or something like that from these school safety agents where now they, the ideal would be that they wouldn't be, I guess I'm trying to just—

Deputy Chancellor Robinson: We will have diversionary responses for low-level offenses, absolutely.

Mayor: Yeah, let me try and help you, I understand you're trying to make it vivid. Neighborhood policing, as the Chancellor said, this is the clue here, this taking neighborhood policing and applying it in our schools. You remember originally neighborhood policing was on our streets the day came when we said we're now bringing neighborhood policing to our transit system. This is a whole different take but it's a same idea, we're taking neighborhood policing into our schools so rather than focus on the traditional more punitive approaches, we're making decisions based on what makes sense in each situation, listening intensely to the educators who know the students best, listening to the students themselves. So, for example, one of the things – I often quote this, Bill Bratton, to me, you know, the leading authority on policing in the last half century. He says there's a mistake that's made a lot of times in understanding policing that arrest is seen by some as a achievement unto itself and that's not true. He said this very publicly, that arrest is one of many tools. Sometimes a summons is a better choice. Sometimes a warning is a better choice. Sometimes giving someone guidance – "you made a mistake, don't do that again" – this is taking some of those same ideas and applying them in the schools. There's times when a warning card is an example, there's times when a conversation is the best way to resolve issues – clearly restorative justice too, getting everyone on the same page that restorative justice can work for everyone, where you're stopping problems before they happen – things like a peer mediation.

So, we'll get you all the specifics but to give you the flavor of it, it is moving away from a situation that too often was simply trying to assign blame and assign punishment, and it was kind of a merry-go-round, and I'm saying this as a – I was a public school parent, and I was a school board member back in the day when we had them, and everything I've done since. I have heard educators say this is not working we're not getting where we need to be parents, young people, all saying why are we doing the same thing over and over again if it's not working. This is to help stop problems before they happen and then when a problem emerges trying to get to the root cause of it so it won't happen again. That's what I think it's all about. Please.

Question: [Inaudible] what you say like social-emotional learning and restorative justice are going to happen in every city school, will they be required to participate in certain trainings or use certain curricula, or is it optional?

Mayor: Chirlane, Chancellor? Who wants it?

Chancellor Carranza: So the – what we're announcing today is not by invitation. It's because these are proven strategies and proven to produce the kinds of results we want. This is part of the training that everyone will get. So if you want to work with the students in New York City, you're signing up already saying "yes, this is part of my tool kit, this is what we want to do." I think what's really, really important about this as well is that as President Mulgrew has said, this is something teachers have wanted in New York City for years and years and years and I would be remiss if I didn't recognize, because I didn't do this by name earlier, but our Superintendent Clarence Ellis is here, and our Executive Superintendent Barbara Freeman are here and they can also give you some incredible examples of when you take an approach where everybody is trained, you can actually change the entire environment in a school. So this is not voluntary, this is – everybody is going to do it. Yes.

Question: The MOU says two of the offenses that shouldn't be given summonses or arrests, if it can be handled safely, are graffiti and/or vandalism, and pot-smoking. Of course, those two offenses, you would be arrested if did them on the street, so just wondering what kind of lesson that sends to kids that the law is different inside—

Mayor: No, sorry. I appreciate the question but pot-smoking obviously is being handled differently at this point in our city, even separate from Albany. So you said you would be arrested on the street. That is not the reality now in New York City.

Question: [Inaudible] summons?

Mayor: What's that?

Question: A summons.

Mayor: You said arrested—

Question: Arrested or summons.

Mayor: Yeah, no I want to be very, very clear because it's something I don't want any misunderstanding. Right, I think the point is to try to address the situation, and I appreciate you gave that initial qualifier if it can be done safely, if it's the right thing. It's not rigid, there's always – part of the goal of neighborhood policing is to train our officers and give them discretion. In schools, that also means consultation with educators. But it's not a one-size-fits-all. The notion is if you don't need to use a certain punishment don't use it, but sometimes you do need to use it. So there is that flexibility. It's an indicator we're trying to solve problems at the root rather than to, again, go on that merry-go-round. So what you want to do is help convince someone not - young person - not to continue anti-social behavior. If you can do that with less punitive approaches, that's ideal. Sometimes that doesn't work and you have to go up the scale.

Yeah.

Question: So for the social workers, there are 85 of them, how exactly are they being dispatched and assigned to different schools? Is it a case by cases basis?

Chancellor Carranza: So I'll start then I'll turn it over to our expert here, but we are in process right now of determining how that best is going to look like at schools. I just want to make a distinction; these are clinical social workers, so they're providing direct services to students, and students that are in crisis. But I'm going to ask our Deputy Chancellor to elaborate a little more on that.

Deputy Chancellor Robinson: They'll be based in school communities and districts and borough offices, as close to schools as they can be, so that they can respond quickly and they'll be assigned by need. Thank you.

Mayor: Alright, who hasn't gone, who hasn't gone, who hasn't gone? Yes.

Question: If a student is found with marijuana in their possession and the choice is made not to refer to NYPD for an arrest or summons, what happens? Do they get suspended? Do they like – does it get confiscated?

Assistant Chief Ruben Beltran, NYPD: Thank you. So, we've had the – a warning card program now, almost for the full school year, we've given around 300 warning cards. And those warning cards, before we issued those warning cards, we discussed that with the administration in the schools, with the principals, about is this the best course of action, is there any past history, you know, with the child disciplinary history with the child or behavioral issues inside the school. So we make that decision jointly together. And then it's really, the parent gets notified through the schools and then it's up to the schools, especially in terms of marijuana, to provide some sort of support, to make sure that we can – so we won't have recidivist type behavior or at least they're put on a different path.

Question: Is there a certain amount that a student can have in their possession that would make them – allow them to avoid arrest? I mean like if kids are dealing in schools I imagine the amount would be more and thus the punishment would be arrest.

Assistant Chief Beltran: There's a little bit of judgement involved with that because you can quantify – the containers come different when it comes to marijuana. It's a – sometimes it comes in candy form, sometimes it comes in bags and smoke-able form, but for, we've been using if it's three or more than they would usually get a summons. Depending on the circumstances, depending on the age and everything else, and - but that's really, that's where we, if it's one bag but it's a very large bag than the person may not qualify for the warning card.

Question: [Inaudible].

Assistant Chief Beltran: Ruben Beltran. Chief Beltran. Thank you.

Question: [Inaudible] warning give them for spitting—

Assistant Chief Beltran: It's Beltran. B-E-L-T-R-A-N.

Mayor: Okay, can you spell Ruben for them?

Assistant Chief Beltran: Oh, Ruben. R-U-B-E-N.

Mayor: First Lady is coming up.

Assistant Chief Beltran: Okay, thank you.

First Lady: I just want to say that I am very troubled to hear all these questions that are focusing on discipline when –

[Applause]

– I feel – I feel like no one was listening –

[Laughter]

Today is all about how we are making sure that our young people have the skills, the social-emotional skills, so that they can exhibit positive behaviors. How they can handle conflict in a positive way, how we can move forward without all of this other stuff that you're asking about. I feel like you're stuck in the past here. And I think they agree with me.

[Applause]

Question: [Inaudible].

First Lady: Oh, certainly.

Question: Is the Z [inaudible] is he going to be a part – or he or she, whatever it is—

First Lady: Z, no gender, no orientation, no – Z is just Z.

[Applause]

Question: [Inaudible] going to be in every elementary school program that the –

First Lady: Yes, yeah. Z is like the mascot for the social-emotional – Sanford Harmony approach.

Mayor: Who else? Go ahead.

Question: Is the cost of the program, between the Sanford Harmony totally free to schools and between the 85 social workers, is there a total estimate how much this whole initiative has cost them?

First Lady: The costs are not all lumped together because they are, you know, funding comes in different streams. The Sanford Harmony program is three years. They are training all these teachers for free. I don't have what that would mean in terms of dollars, we can get that to you, but it is free.

Mayor: Free is a good number.

First Lady: Yeah, free is a very good number. Question? LaShawn – Oh, you want to?

Deputy Chancellor Robinson: Just to – thank you, First Lady – just to add for the other components of the programming, we're still working with OMB, it's about $5 – $10 million that we're anticipating for the full package. We've leveraged – the DOE has leveraged quite a bit of internal resources to be able to fund the work. And of course City Council has supported this work tremendously through the social workers.

First Lady: Thank you.

Mayor: Who has not gone yet? Anyone? Back there?

Question: [Inaudible].

Mayor: Yeah, we'll do education topics too, let me just see if there is anything else on the announcement, we'll come right to you. Is there anything else on this announcement?

Question: [Inaudible] 20 days of a suspension is a long time, why not go lower [inaudible]?

Mayor: I'll start and I'll let the educators speak. I think that the point was we have been consistently reducing the number of suspensions while achieving more safety and a better school environment. We've been reducing the time of suspensions also while achieving more safety and a better school environment. So we want to keep driving that down but there are exceptional situations and we want to be able to address those exceptional situations as well.

President Michael Mulgrew, United Federation of Teachers: This whole announcement is not about number of days because there's always exceptions to everything, we've been very clear about this. The whole idea is that one, if we know a child is having difficulties or having challenges and they come to us, we want to get them the support they need now before they make a bad mistake which would warrant something that we know will affect them for the rest of their life. We're trying to avoid that. It's – this is something that is difficult at times but at – when a child does something that is extreme, than we have to make sure – we know that that's going to go past 20 but at the same time we're also saying now that we're going to get you a lot more support and we want this not to be something that affects you in a very negative way for the rest of your life. And we also have to deal with the fact that there are other children involved in these things. So it's a very – it's tough at times to have these conversations, and people like to fixate on numbers as we've seen but overall this is more about a proactive approach, let's get to children before. If we can identify them ahead of time, I know that through our PLC program in 31 schools, those schools can tell me there are a small number of children who need a clinical intervention which we did not have the ability to get them before, but now we will be able to do that. And hopefully this whole idea is about avoiding a child making a bad decision which will affect them for the rest of their life, that's what this is about.

[Applause]

Question: We know that some school communities, parents and students have wanted to get rid of the metal detectors at their schools, and I know you've said that's a school by school decision, but what is the process if that's something the community wants to do?

Mayor: I'll start and Chief and Chancellor, Deputy Chancellor - I mean the idea here is to recognize that we've come a long way. I've been in this city for many decades. I remember when the city was just constantly dealing with violence and challenges in our schools and outside. We've come a long, long way and the last five – now six years – we've gone even farther. So we're in a very different environment now and we're in a position now to get at these root causes in a whole different way, to help our young people in a whole different way, in terms of our streets to get at the root causes of crime in a whole different way, it's just that we have literally gone into a new era. In that context the process is if a school community has a desire for metal detectors or to remove metal detectors, there's a process between DOE and NYPD to determine if that makes sense. We listen very, very carefully in that process, of course, to NYPD's expertise as the safety experts. Sometimes there's an incident or something external that causes NYPD or DOE to say we've got a special situation here, we need to something temporarily or for a longer period of time. But mainly it's a conversation that begins in the school community and then there is a process to decide and that's been working. Anything to add?

Chancellor Carranza: The Mayor just described it exactly the way it is but I also want to give some context because like all of us, we're out in the community, we listen. New York City is a world class city, it's a destination city, it's also a destination target city. So as the Chancellor of Schools, I want to make sure when parents send their children to schools, they know those schools are going to be safe, they're going to be secure, and that we are working hand-and-hand with the most recognized security, anti-terrorist, law enforcement agency in the world, it's NYPD. So when I say that we work hand and hand, we do. We review data together, we review statistics together, we listen to the community, but we have a process in which we always are reevaluating how is it, what's going on, and when we have to make decisions to add or to remove, we do that. There's a real-time way of doing that.

Chief Beltran: So thank you. All I was going to add was that we were directed by the Mayor – one of my first meetings when I took over the School Safety Command – was for us to look at schools, schools that currently have scanning, look at other places that may need scanning, and we went through that process and we changed some schools from full-time to part-time. Some from part-time to no scanning and I think there was one school that was added to the full-time scanning so it'll be soon. So – and we're going to start that process now and that's going to be regular process for us, working with DOE, working with the Office of Safety and Youth Development with Mark Rampersant, and we do this on – we're going to do this on a regular basis, and we also listen to students. We've done over 25 listening sessions throughout the year and we ask the students what they feel about scanning and about how they will feel about that being taken away or being changed, so we're trying to get input from everywhere but we have a process working with DOE to make that determination and then we share that with the school community.

Mayor: I'm just going to add one parent's point of view which is I don't want anyone to stereotype our parents. You know, Chirlane and I were public school parents, we care first and foremost about the safety of our kids. A lot of parents do not think that necessarily means scanning, it depends on the situation in the school, we want safety more and more and this is why that famous phrase, if you see something, say something, is the essence of how we achieve public safety in New York City today is with the connection and the unity of our public safety officers with communities. So if there is a dialogue, if information is flowing, that is the best way to keep everyone safe. There are some schools where scanning makes sense, there are some schools where it doesn't, but parents are quite clear – they want the best educational environment for their kids and they want safety and that is different in every single place. Anyone else on the announcement before – media questions on the announcement and then we will go to other education and then off-topic.

Question: [Inaudible] clarify the cost? What's free and what's $5 – $10 million—

Mayor: Say again?

Question: The cost, what exactly is free and what's the $5 – $10 million –

Mayor: The free element is what Sanford Harmony National University is doing, thank you very much, and the cost element is what we put out on the day of the handshake and obviously was voted on yesterday. I don't know if anyone has the numbers at their fingertips, otherwise we'll get it to you right after this.

Question: [Inaudible] Chancellor said $5 – $10 million, is that for the social workers or was that like for the training and then the social workers come from the City Council?

Deputy Chancellor Robinson: And we're happy to get you more detail [inaudible].

Mayor: Hold on, the COO has arrived, Ursulina Ramirez.

Chief Operating Officer Ursulina Ramirez, Department of Education: The total – so when Deputy Chancellor Robinson had mentioned $5 – $10 million, that's for when we look at the Restorative Justice Program, the PLC Program for this upcoming school year. The 85 social workers that we got into the adopted budget is approximately $11 million and that was with the City Council's partnership.

Question: So it's $5 – $10 million plus $11 million?

Chief Operating Officer Ramirez: Correct, and that $5 – $10 million is for year one and we will be working with our colleagues at OMB as we roll out to assess the price and the cost moving forward.

Mayor: Okay, yes.

Michael Cunningham: One more quick thing, on the Sanford Harmony Program, that package is – that's free to the schools but it's about around a $5.8 million investment.

[Applause]

Question: [Inaudible] Deputy Chancellor, one more point of clarification on the allotment of the social workers [inaudible] example that Speaker gave, for example, when he was in high school and he had no one to [inaudible], in this case are there going to be like designated social workers if the student wants to go see someone as opposed to an administrator, someone calling for help on their path, you know how's that going to work in terms of the students access to these outsourced social workers?

Deputy Chancellor Robinson: As you can imagine we recently received the funding for the program and we were able to pull everything together to roll it out. We've been meeting, collaborating with so many key stakeholders. But I actually like that one. What's your name?

Question: Stacy.

Deputy Chancellor Robinson: Thank you, Stacy. We're going to call that the Stacy part of the package that will give students direct access. Thank you, Stacy.

Mayor: Thank you, Stacy. Now, media question?

Question: I wanted to ask what the flexibility of educators [inaudible] to be able to implement the restorative practices, right. How are you going to keep them accountable [inaudible] and how will that be measured in the future?

Mayor: Excellent question. How will we keep it accountable and measure all those good things you do?

Deputy Chancellor Robinson: Thank you. So, we will be monitoring a few key metrics including incidents in schools. We'll also continue to monitor suspensions. Survey data will be another metric that we'll monitor and I'll be directly responsible for fidelity and implementation, and I'm depending on everyone here today that said they wanted these practices in schools to support and be a part of this process because it is really about supporting every young person both inside and outside of the classroom.

[Applause]

Mayor: I'm going to turn to other education topics – and going to the back. We have – go ahead.

Question: [Inaudible] plan for specialized schools [inaudible]?

Mayor: Well, the first thing to say is that until the Albany legislative session is over, we're not assuming anything. We've seen lots of interesting things happen in Albany over the years and everyone is still there, and they're still discussing a variety of issues. So, I'm not going to prejudge the outcome in Albany until the ink is dry. So, let's do that first and then we can say. Obviously our goal in any scenario is to work with all communities to find a positive way forward that really does change a status quo that I think is broken but we can do that in a way that respects all communities. I had a very positive and constructive meeting with a group of leaders from the Asian American community. It was a beginning of a bigger dialogue, and we're going to be doing a lot more of that. But again, let's first see what happens in Albany. Other education questions – yes?

Question: [Inaudible] clarity on the discipline code changes. Is there a hard ban on suspensions over 20 days?

Deputy Chancellor Robinson: Yeah, that was easy. No, because there – we certainly have federal and State legislation that mandates suspensions above 20 days. And for serious and violent acts we will continue to review on a case by case basis. The point is to not fixate on the days. Right now the average length of a suspension is 13 days. We are really fixating on the supports that we need to have in place to be proactive and to support every child, in every school community.

Question: [Inaudible] suspensions were for 20 days or more. Do you have, like, a projection of what numbers – of what that number will be next year with these changes?

Deputy Chancellor Robinson: Last year we had approximately nine percent, I believe, of suspensions at greater than 20 days. This year I believe we're at about six percent. So, it's a very, very small number of suspensions. As I shared the average length is about 13 days but again we're looking at proactive supports and that should be the takeaway today.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: On education – yes?

Question: For the Mayor and the Chancellor – what do you think about two Councilmen calling for investigations into DOE Community Affairs Director Sadye Campoamor, for pressuring DOE staffers to attend a political rally supporting the Chancellor?

Mayor: It's Sadye. I've known Sadye for many years. She is a very, very fine public servant. I know for a fact that she's the kind of person who does her work in a very honorable way with a lot of integrity. It's something that probably was just ill considered and shouldn't happen again but that's – as far as I can see, that's all there is to it.

Chancellor Carranza: So, while I don't know all the details, I'm going to echo what Mayor de Blasio said about Sadye Campoamor – Campoamor. So –

Question: [Inaudible]

Chancellor Carranza: That's what I do, I'm a teacher.

[Laughter]

But let's be clear. Her job is community outreach. She works with community-based organizations all day long. She shares information with community-based organizations. She makes sure that they are aware of what is happening in terms of events that pertain to the Department of Education. And when I arrived 14 months ago, most of the community-based organizations said, 'We wish you guys would just communicate with us. We wish we knew what was going on. We wish we were part of the conversation.' And Sadye has taken that job very seriously and we're really excited about the work she's doing. But that's her job – to communicate with community-based organizations all day.

Mayor: Questions? Education – yes?

Question: So, a while back there were some yeshivas that were denying access to DOE investigators. And the State Education Department had set a deadline for the visits to be scheduled. What's the status –

Mayor: There were two left the last time that I heard the update. And what's happened on the final two, Chancellor?

Chancellor Carranza: So, all of the yeshivas that were mentioned in the complaint have all been visited by a DOE team. The visits were concluded. I am in the process – and I've let her know – of sending a report to the Commissioner at the State Department of Education, and then we will continue to work very closely with SED on the next steps.

Mayor: Anything else, education – yes?

Question: Just back to the SHSAT – I understand that hope springs eternal in Albany, I guess –

Mayor: Well, I think another way to say it, honestly, anything can happen in Albany. We have seen the most interesting things at the very last moment.

Question: [Inaudible] even if it were to pass, it's obviously at the last minute [inaudible] other alternatives [inaudible] consideration some of the conversations you've had with parents recently at Gracie Mansion [inaudible]. Do you think you still need a change to the [inaudible] –

Mayor: Look, I'm not – obviously, I'm not going to get into a hypothetical but I'll answer, I think, the spirit of your question. So, first of all, this is a proposal that passed out of the Assembly Education Committee two years in a row now. They got very strong support from the caucus within the Assembly Democratic Conference. That has sparked a citywide conversation. When you say it has not been smooth, I think that is one of the truest statements you will make in 2019.

It's contentious, difficult, challenging stuff in a multi-ethnic society that's dealing with a lot of history. But I've said very clearly I want us in whatever happens to engage all communities and to do a better job of that and to listen and to make sure we're understanding all the concerns and acting on them. Where my bottom line is, is that we have a situation that's obviously broken, doesn't reflect our city, and I believe it's one of the last bastions of pure high-stakes testing. You know, unfiltered, you know, 100 percent high-stakes testing which has been turned away from all over this nation.

So, I think that has to be addressed. But whatever happens next, it will be a community process, it will be a process with other elected officials to figure out what will work. Anything else on education? Going once – please.

Question: [Inaudible] thinking about [inaudible] restorative justice, anything that comes to my mind is classroom sizes. Like if we have classroom sizes and we're talking about the way that educators are going to be able social emotionally support their students. Is there any intake of how we're going to tackle classroom sizes [inaudible]?

Mayor: Tackle is an interesting verb. If you said, how are we going to perfectly address the issue and finish the issue? I would tell you, I don't have that. If you say do we have a plan to make progress? I do have that. We have a huge, huge capital plan, first of all, wherein some of the most overcrowded districts will be getting a lot more school capacity. We're also building a lot of early childhood education centers – that's going to open up classrooms in existing school buildings because pre-Ks and 3-Ks will go to those new centers.

So, as we open up space, that's one of the keys to reducing class size. Additional professionals, obviously, we've added to the number of teachers in a number of schools. We've done the work to improve the Fair Student Funding formula so that a lot of schools are able to bring in more teachers, reduce class size. These are steps in the right direction.

Really, really, really addressing the issue would take, I think, the Campaign for Fiscal Equity decision being fully implemented by the State of New York and a lot more capital spending and a lot of time because even just building the buildings takes time. So, I think we're making progress. I think we need a whole different world in terms of Albany's commitment and then ultimately a new federal commitment, as well, to get to that place we really want to get to.

Okay last call on education questions from the media – last call.

Question: Are there any other discipline code changes beyond the 20-day piece?

Mayor: Other discipline code changes?

Deputy Chancellor Robinson: The Department of Education will host community engagement sessions – five sessions in total, one in each borough – where we welcome an opportunity for all community members to come on out and share any additional changes that they would like to propose.

Question: [Inaudible] proposing right now?

Deputy Chancellor Robinson: Correct. That is correct and some other changes such as moving the Student Bill of Rights, which currently lives in the back of the book, we believe it should be in the front of the book. We are fully aligning the definition for bullying – minor changes – but the major ones. And I'm sure the team, they would be happy to provide some additional information.

Mayor: Last call on education. Going to off-topic – off-topic, other topics –

Way back –

Question: [Inaudible] scooters –

Mayor: A little louder –

Question: Sorry –

Mayor: The legalization of e-bikes, e-scooters?

Question: [Inaudible] wondering if the City [inaudible] –

Mayor: This is only – no, we've gotten now the power to determine over the next half-a-year in the case of the e-bikes, and longer in the case of e-scooters, what will work for our city, and the first thing we're going to consider is safety. But we have that process that we're now going to go through, working with other stakeholders. And everyone knows what I feel – I want safety first. But I think now that we have a legal structure, we can also figure out a way to address some of the economic justice issues and find ways to help ensure that scooters and bikes have real physical speed limitations on them. That's what we look forward to doing.

Yes, Gloria?

Question: Mr. Mayor, I want to talk about the new NYCHA Chair, specifically the questions around his salary. I just want to give you an opportunity to explain why you think he deserves that salary, why it's so high? And also some questions about how much time he will actually be spending here in the City, especially on weekends or holidays, you know, as – when the summer ends, when things are [inaudible] –

Mayor: I spent real time with Greg Russ, and so did a number of members of my team, a lot of folks at NYCHA, a lot of folks at HUD, a lot of folks at the Southern District, and he was a candidate that we agreed on by acclamation, by consensus. And, clearly, in terms of everything we were looking for here – we wanted a proven leader; we wanted a change agent; we wanted someone who could take the RAD idea and implement it on a huge scale. We wanted someone who knew how to listen to residents, work with elected officials, work with a bigger team, manage a bigger team. He met all those criteria very strongly. He's devoted his entire professional life to public housing. The fact is, over the years, you know, our NYCHA Chairs have come from all different sorts of backgrounds for decades and decades. Probably, you have to go back a long time to find someone with the extraordinary amount of experience in public housing that Greg Russ brings, and he's coming in at a time where really big changes are needed. So, that's how we came to the conclusion that he was the right person for the job. In terms of his schedule, I have absolute confidence from the conversations with him that he's going to be where he needs to be, when he needs to be in terms of serving the people of public housing. He's been through it his whole life. If there's a particularly important moment, or, God forbid, there's a crisis, he's going to be there leading from the front. If you're talking about a typical weekend and things are going smoothly and, of course, the General Manager, Vito Mustaciuolo, has done a fantastic job – he will always be here as well. I think it is understandable that someone whose family is in another place, that he wants to spend time with his family as part of striking the balance. At some point, his family may be able to move here, but it couldn't be done on this immediate basis.

Question: Specifically wanted to get your take on the figure –

Mayor: Sure, absolutely.

Question: You know, and explain it to folks who live in public housing. I mean, he's making more money than you're making.

Mayor: I have no problem with that, and I'll tell you why. It's the reality around the country. When you look at these absolutely crucial jobs – running public housing authorities, running public hospital systems, running school systems – these are exceedingly difficult jobs. In most parts of the country, they get much – or, many parts of the country, I should say – they get higher salaries than have been provided historically in New York, and New York's one of the highest-cost places to live. So, we were out of alignment actually quite a while ago, and this conversation over how we would find a new leader for NYCHA with our federal partners – I mean, HUD was the first to say we need to adjust this salary structure for what's going on today. So, when you think about the fact that he will now be responsible for improving the lives of 400,000 people and that he has a proven track record of doing that, it is worth every penny to get the right person who will be there for the residents of NYCHA.

Yeah?

Question: There was a report yesterday in the Wall Street Journal about the prevailing wage [inaudible] carve out for New York City. Would that be a welcome development [inaudible] in your view?

Mayor: The idea behind the legislation is to improve the quality of living of working people, and I agree with that idea. Our goal and government should be to constantly uplift working people, improve wages, benefits in every way we can. There are other things that have to be balanced in the equation, like affordable housing, school construction and other issues. There's been a very good dialogue in Albany about how to strike that balance, and I'm hopeful that we'll end up with, you know, a fair outcome. But that conversation is – talk about what we talked about earlier – there's many different possibilities still on the table in Albany with just hours to go. It could go any number of ways.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Something that strikes that balance, that achieves the underlying goals that the sponsors wanted to achieve, which I commend, but also recognizes the public service dynamics, the public needs that we have to ensure are achieved as well.

Yes?

Question: Back to NYCHA, just on the salary – the Chancellor actually makes $50,000 less and he's responsible for improving the lives of over a million New Yorkers. So, could you address that? And then, on Russ, can you talk a little bit more about what you hope he does to expand RAD?

Mayor: Well, first of all, both Russ and Carranza make more than me. So, you know, it's like –

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Well, I'm actually responsible for 8.6 million people, public safety, hospitals, schools, parks, sanitation –

[Laughter]

So, I'm not hung up on this point. Elected officials are historically held to a particular standard where our salaries are probably a lot lower than they would be on the "open market," but that's a choice we make. But when it comes to getting the very best professionals in these fields, there's a competition in this country. If you look – go and look at the salaries that school chancellors and superintendents are getting around the country. Go and look at what public hospital system leaders get. Go and look at what public housing authority heads get. It's a competitive dynamic, and we're the greatest city in the world, and if we kept paying a salary that was not going to help us get the very best talent, that was not serving our people well. So, I think what folks in public housing are going to say is the same thing I think a lot of parents, students, educators have thought in our school system – if the product is good, if the leader gets the job done, they're not going to get hung up on a competitive salary when you compare it to the rest of the country, especially because we're one of the most costly places to live in the country.

Marcia?

Question: Mr. Mayor, what do you say to your critics who say that signal [inaudible] live in NYCHA – somebody who's a weekday-warrior to deal with their problems? [Inaudible] seven days –

Mayor: Yeah, Marcia, that's just wrong, respectfully – that's a very unfair characterization. If you look at what CEO's do nowadays, he is going to be responsible for everything that happens in public housing in the city 24-7, every day of the year. He knows it. He spent his lifetime working in public housing, which is a really tough environment to work in. He's devoted his entire professional career to helping low-income folks get affordable housing. He will have responsibility. He'll be all over it wherever he is. I really wish all of you would come forward into 2019 and recognize that with the kind of technology we have today and the expectations for any CEO today, you're on duty all the time, and you can do the job wherever you are. But if something requires his physical presence, I have absolute confidence he will be front and center where he's needed.

Question: Just to follow up on that issue – on the salary – did you guys offer the salary initially and he took the first offer? Or did he deny –

Mayor: I'm not going into the details of personnel negotiations. This was a consensus arrangement with our federal partners, and us, and Greg Russ. And our federal partners felt strongly that we had to recognize the competitive salary dynamics.

Question: Mr. Mayor, Vice President Biden has been criticized for having dealt with segregationist senators in the past, and you've said a few things about this – I'm wondering about that. And are you [inaudible] for the debates, and, if so, how?

Mayor: Those are two very different questions. Yeah, to be on the national stage and speak to millions of my fellow Americans about the future of this country – yes, of course, I have to prepare. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail, but I have to prepare. There's been a lot of other things going on – the City budget, and the Albany session, which is still going, and the work we were doing for this announcement. But, of course I'm finding time to prepare as well.

On the question of the Vice President, I do want to read something here because it puts this into perspective. And this is very painful what I'm going to read. I just want to say, it's shocking that this was ever said in our lifetime in the United States of America, but this was said, and this is why the Vice President needs to apologize for his reference to Senator James Eastland. So, James Eastland said this at a rally during the famous bus boycott during the Civil Rights Movement – this is a direct quote from James Eastland. He said, in every stage of the bus boycott, we have been oppressed and degraded because of black, slimy, juicy, unbearably stinking n-words. African flesh eaters. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to abolish the Negro race, proper methods should be used. Among these are guns, bows and arrows, slingshots and knives. All whites are created equal with certain rights; among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of dead n-words – this is what James Eastland said. It's unbelievable to me that someone who wants to be the nominee of the Democratic Party for President United States would speak nostalgically of his relationship with not only a segregationist, but someone who encouraged violence against black people. So, look, I've said many times, I respect Vice President Biden, I respect his public service, but he needs to apologize and he needs to apologize now. It's as simple as that.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: We will get you the date. It's been out there today, all over. We'll get you the date.

Question: Mr. Mayor, there's a number of women in your administration who are serving in multiple roles – most notably, Kathryn Garcia, Lorraine Grillo, Julie Menin – and I'm just wondering if they would have a case to make for salaries that are comparable to the Chancellor or the NYCHA Chair given the extra work they've been given?

Mayor: Again, each one of those very fine public servants took on important tasks that were needed and they're doing an incredible job with it. Obviously, based on the announcement – Greg Russ – Kathryn Garcia is going to end that role in NYCHA once Greg is here. But these are devoted public servants and they have strong teams that have been built up to help share that burden. We made sure that there was the right teams that would allow them to get job done that they wanted to get done.

Yeah?

Question: The Campaign Finance Board is about the launch this online voter registration, but my understanding is that [inaudible] online, you get a document that you have to sign and then send back, which may make things more cumbersome. Is there anything the City can do about this?

Mayor: Look, I think the automatic voter registration is a huge step forward. And I wanted to say for a moment – I know we're all in the rush of events here, but I think this legislative session in Albany will go down in history as the most productive, most positive legislative session in generations, literally. I've never seen anything like it in my life. This is the ultimate proof that elections do matter. And what they did with election reform, criminal justice reform, congestion pricing, and the MTA plan, and everything that's moving now, it's unbelievable. A lot of us have been waiting literally a lifetime to see this happen. So, the fact that they then threw in the automatic voter registration at the end was stunning. And we have to make sure it works in practice, we really do, so your point is well taken. If it's too cumbersome, it will not achieve its goal. We are definitely going to try and figure out how to make it as usable and, you know, user friendly as possible.

Who has not gone? Has everyone gone? Anna?

Question: You guys – your campaign requested the FEC give you an extension on fundraising, citing all of your work as the Mayor of New York City.

Mayor: [Inaudible] not fundraising, I think it was financial disclosure. The personal financial disclosure, if I remember correctly. I haven't seen the document, but –

Question: Asking specifically about – the letter notes that you have all these duties as Mayor of New York. Do you think that you're kind of, there, ruining your argument that you can walk and chew gum –

Mayor: It's a form. Respectfully, it's a form. It takes time to fill out. I entered the race very late. Obviously, we're going to fill out the form. That's all I have to say.

Go ahead –

Question: Just on NYCHA again, since it was such a long search for a new head, can you give us a flavor of what it was like? How many people did you consider? Did anyone turn you down? Who else was in the running?

Mayor: I can give you a flavor, but I'm not going to take you on the whole journey and a lot of detail. The only person we offered the job to was Greg Russ – that's the most important fact. We looked at lots and lots of people, dozens of people between – in fact, it was a very intensive effort – HUD, the Southern District, our team at City Hall, just nonstop daily conversations, reviewing names, ruling people in, ruling people out. It was a nonstop effort. But it became very clear over time that it would take a really skilled person with the willingness to go into such a tough situation. I can certainly say there were some people who are very skilled, but we're not willing take on such a tough mission. He was, and he brought the whole package that we were looking for. So, he was the one who got the offer.

Gloria?

Question: Mr. Mayor, you're headed to South Carolina for the big fish fry. What are your goals for this next trip? What are you setting out to do? What are your plans? Talk a little bit about that – do you like fried fish? I mean –

Mayor: Yes, I support fried fish. Chirlane and I are going together. Obviously, South Carolina is a pivotal state. We've had great relationships that we're building there. We've started to get some support there that's going to make a big impact. So, we're going to be doing a whole host of events over the next couple of days, and it's a chance to talk about things that South Carolinians want to hear about. They clearly want to know that the status quo can be changed in this country. And what I hear from people in South Carolina is, prove to me you know how to do it. And I show them the kinds of things we've done in New York, and it opens a lot of eyes. Particularly, Pre-K for All has been a very powerful message in South Carolina. It's a place that's dealing with a real lack of education funding. So, I'm really looking forward to this trip. I think it's going to be very important.

Question: Separate question – do you plan to endorse the Queens D.A. race?

Mayor: At this point, I'm not involved in that race. There's obviously still time, but, at this point, I don't have a plan to.

Yeah?

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Want to ban what?

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Are you saying freeways?

Audience: Greenways –

Mayor: Greenways –

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: To be very clear, what we cared about in the legislation was, one, that there would be a legal framework, which we didn't have previously; and, two, that there would be the ability of New York City to determine its own destiny, and now we're going to go through that process. So on those specifics, you know, we'll certainly consider what they mean, but that's not in the front of my vision right now. In the front of my vision is coming up with a plan that will work for the City and keep people safe.

Go ahead –

Question: Mr. Mayor, does the salary that Mr. Russ is getting – the $400,000 – [inaudible]?

Mayor: You can check with our team on the specific conditions. My understanding is it's just a straight salary.

Yes?

Question: Last year, you announced an intention to start tackling issues of noise throughout the City, to try to find ways to reduce it. And I know in this year's budget there's those rumblers for the fire engines, but are you going to do a more comprehensive plan? Or are there other elements of what you plan to –

Mayor: Yeah, we have more coming on noise, for sure. Absolutely, just give us a little time, because we wanted to get through Albany, and the budget and all, but it'll be coming soon.

Okay, last call. Anything else? Yes?

Question: Yes, thinking about the Universal Pre-K program, which is an awesome program [inaudible] I was one of the pioneering teachers who taught in the South Bronx – a universal pre-K teacher. One of the conflicting issues with being a Universal Pre-K teacher is that we are the lowest paid teachers, so it's really hard to retain teachers in the Bronx community because –

Mayor: Right. What's the bottom line here?

Question: Oh yeah, so is there anything being done for ECE teachers to receive equitable salaries?

Mayor: Well, that's – thank you for the question. Thank you for what you did as a teacher. This is the whole agreement we came to with the City Council on a pathway to address the parity issue, because these teachers mean a lot to us and to our children. So, we have that process in place. It'll play out over the next few months.

Okay, I think we're done. Thanks, everybody.