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Speaker: Welcome to Mondays with Maria, brought to you by The Foundation for Orange County Public Schools. Here's OCPS Superintendent, Dr. Maria Vazquez.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Hi everyone. Nancy Alvarez is here with me. Nancy, I want to be able to preview my town hall meetings. You might remember I did 44 of them last year at 22 different locations. We had a wonderful turnout and I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone again.
Nancy Alvarez: I do remember, because I remember thinking, how are you keeping up with all these? Aren't you exhausted? I used to ask you all the time. Yes. You held one session for employees and then another session for families. So will you be doing that same format this year and why is that so important?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: So, we're going to try a few different formats for the town halls. We are going to give opportunities for both our employees and our family and community members to participate. We're going to do face-to-face sessions, and we're also going to do some that are virtually giving opportunities for those individuals who may not be able to make it to a face-to-face session. But it's important to me to be able to reach out and hear from as many of our stakeholders as possible. Last year, we were able to take the feedback we received and make some changes this year. One of them was with discipline. Another one had to do with supports to schools, and so we reorganized. So there was greater support. So I value their input and their feedback.
Nancy Alvarez: So how many town halls are you looking at this year and is there going to be anything different that families or employees can expect?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: So we're going to try and do as many as we did last year, just spreading them out, not just to the first 100 days. And as I mentioned, we're going to be giving other opportunities for various stakeholders to give feedback and interact with me so that we are communicating, we're keeping people informed, and that my team and I have a true pulse of what our community is thinking, feeling any concerns, any positive things about our district.
Nancy Alvarez: So, sticking to what you did last year and your takeaways, what were some of the biggest things that you walked away from after all those town halls? And I know discipline was a big issue that came up a lot. And you actually created the discipline task force as a result of all those conversations you had.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yes. Discipline was number one priority, both for our employees and for our families. And we did create a discipline task force. They will continue to work with us this upcoming school year,
Nancy Alvarez: And it's, it's great, you know, as a parent just to hear you talk about how, you know, all these things you're putting together. It's not about just sitting, sitting around talking, but it's about actually turning these things into action. So it's definitely appreciated. And we look forward to your first town hall tomorrow at Cypress Creek High School from 6:30 to 7:30. Let me know if you want to take Mondays with Mari on the road.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: I think that would be a lot of fun. The full schedule of town hall dates and times will be posted on ocps.net. The second town hall will be Wednesday, September 27th at Edgewater High School. Thank you for watching Mondays with Maria will be back next week.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Mondays with Maria has been brought to you by The Foundation for Orange County Public Schools. Investing in our children today to strengthen our community tomorrow. For more OCPS news and information, visit the slice.cps.net.