Gutiérrez asks Abigail Leonard what she wanted from administration

And then, Abigail, thank you.

And thank you so much for your testimony.

My only question to you is, and I thank you for the support of the resolution, is there also, is there something that you didn't hear today that you wish you would have heard from the admin?

I mean, we graciously appreciate what the admin is doing for multilingual learners and greatly appreciate the council making the point of where we can go further.

As a Head Start provider, though we currently, as was mentioned before, NYCPS doesn't provide Head Start programs at this point.

Because of the contract non-renewal, we want to make sure that Head Start programs are a partner in the expansion of early education.

And especially as a program that is federally funded, there is a great incentive to being able to partner with our early educators in seeking universal child care expansion.

So we want to make sure that that is, you know, a central part of when we're considering what expanding child care looks like.

I think also that the point made about being able to distinguish between developmental concerns and language barriers is a point that we really, you know, we think a lot about at Head Start as a comprehensive services model.

We want to make sure that there is prioritization for children with learning disabilities and other disabilities, but also

There is a big difference between a child unable to respond in a language that is not their native language and them struggling to be able to reach those developmental goals.

So I think that that is a point that we are very concerned about for other provisions in the rule as well.

But I think we want to make sure that that's a point that's emphasized.

Excellent.

Yes, thank you.

Well, thank you all so much for testifying today.