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Q&A
Council Member Narcisse inquires about school infrastructure repairs and AC installation
3:21:32
ยท
4 min
Council Member Mercedes Narcisse engages in a Q&A session with DOE officials, primarily focusing on school infrastructure repairs, upgrades, and AC installation. She inquires about the prioritization of funding for necessary repairs, the implementation of temperature control measures in light of new state laws, and the timeline for AC installations in schools.
- Narcisse emphasizes the importance of functional AC units, especially in classrooms and cafeterias, to ensure a comfortable learning environment.
- DOE officials explain the funding allocation process and their efforts to address AC issues, including early preparation for summer programs.
- The discussion briefly touches on a farming project in Bergen Beach, with Narcisse expressing excitement about its potential for teaching children about organic food.
Mercedes Narcisse
3:21:32
Thank you.
3:21:33
Thank you, madam chair.
3:21:35
I wanna know how does DOE prioritize which schools receive funding for necessary repairs and upgrade, and how can we council member ensure that our district taken care of can we participate and help?
Emma Vadehra
3:21:53
Thank you, and I think this is related to Councilmember Brewer's question as well.
3:21:58
Have schools have their own budgets and custodians have their own budgets to do some of those repairs and upgrades.
3:22:06
When they are not able to, we work closely and we try and be as responsive as we can to school needs understanding we do also have a limited budget centrally.
3:22:15
Where projects are large enough that they take capital funding, we do try and spend capital funds on that as well.
3:22:23
One of the changes we are actually making is frankly to push more of these funding decisions closer to the school level.
3:22:31
In terms of your look, we are very grateful for the funds that you all as council members put into our school projects as well.
3:22:39
I'm sure we'll talk about that more this afternoon and appreciate more of that as well for the fund schools in your own districts.
3:22:46
And if there's specifics you want me to check on, happy to.
Mercedes Narcisse
3:22:49
Okay.
3:22:50
Now we're talking about the coming, the very fast summer will come, right?
3:22:55
We have a new state law effective September 2025.
3:23:00
The temperature will be set at 88 degrees Fahrenheit, the maximum allowed temperature for the student occupied spaces.
3:23:12
It will further emphasizes the need for effectiveness effective control in the schools.
3:23:18
So how are you planning to address that?
3:23:22
Because I know we have a lot of ACs that are not working.
3:23:24
That's the question.
3:23:25
That's the reason for my question.
Emma Vadehra
3:23:27
Yes.
3:23:28
So as you know and all of you know, we had central funding for ACs and we continue to work through that.
3:23:36
A lot of our AC funding is now moving on to school budgets and our central facility team is also working as hard as we can to address any AC issues that come up.
3:23:45
I will say, know this sounds small, but one of the things we did this year is getting an early start on this process for Summer Rising in particular, reaching out to principals and custodial staff already and saying, this is coming.
3:23:56
What do you need where you know you have issues so we can try and work through as much of that as possible prior to the summer?
3:24:02
We do always have resource constraints, but whether in central or school budgets, we will continue that going forward, not just because of the state law, but because we want to make sure our kids are as comfortable as possible in our buildings.
Mercedes Narcisse
3:24:14
Now for the AC, coming back with the AC again.
3:24:17
For the installation, do you have a timeline how long it takes to get the process going?
3:24:25
Let's say AC is now working in some schools, like in the cafeteria, which I have seen kids sweating in there.
3:24:32
So what is the timeline to get them fixed?
3:24:35
I mean put a new one or to install a new one?
Emma Vadehra
3:24:38
If there's a kid sweating, make sure you let us know so we can make sure we have that one on our list.
3:24:43
But it depends entirely on what the project is, whether it's a small replacement, a larger replacement, or sort of a larger capital project, which of course takes longer.
3:24:51
So I don't think I can give you a typical time, but we could come back with a range if that would be helpful based on the type of project.
Mercedes Narcisse
3:24:58
So thank you, Chair, because I'm very much interested, especially in the classroom, in the cafeterias, to see our kids sweating.
3:25:06
So you know, they're not learning.
Melissa Aviles-Ramos
3:25:09
Council members, just to double down on that, wherever you know of specific cases, if you can reach out to us just so that way we can work directly and make prioritizing those spaces.
Mercedes Narcisse
3:25:19
This is a side one.
3:25:21
I'm talking about the farming too now.
3:25:23
So can we talk about the farming?
3:25:25
So how we see the one in Bergen Beach?
3:25:28
I'm leaving you with that.
3:25:29
The Bergen's Farm that we have in 03/12.
Melissa Aviles-Ramos
3:25:33
We got it.
Mercedes Narcisse
3:25:34
I hope you were looking because I'm excited for this opportunity especially now to show our kids how to eat well, organic food.
3:25:42
So thank you for the support.
3:25:44
I'm looking forward to open it.
3:25:46
Thanks.
3:25:47
Thank you madam chair.