made tod matt today lida lelucia is live parade route. >> reporter: there will be warming tents for those participating in the parade. of course you want everyone to have a good time, but you also want them to have a safe time here. and as you heard tammie saying, this is a dangerous, dangerous type of condition to be in where you have temperatures that are just so cold and the windchills are cold as well and you have the folks that are just starting to wake up or the folks who have been up all night getting ready for this parade. it's a yearly tradition here in philadelphia. and they want to do it on new year's day as much as possible. it has been postponed in the past, but they really only do it as a last resort. most recent time that it has been postponed was a little more than 10 years ago for rain. so you have the parade beginning at 9:00 this morning. the floats are ready. people are ready. and this could have been postponed, but it wasn't. a 3-2 decision by the division leaders kept the parade on schedule, a decision they did not take lightly. take a listen. >> we just wanted to ma

so lida blank and susan solomon. >> good evening. just want to make a few comments. i've been following and participating in one way or another with several of the -- virtually all the pathways except the newest one, nyu, since i became president of usf. it's a subject very important to our students as well as our members. the quality of the support that we give to our newest teachers is probably one of the biggest factors in that retention rate, which we're committed to seeing improved for our newest teachers. and in particular, we're all committed to diversifying our teaching force so that it mirrors the students and particularly our students that are facing the biggest challenges. so i want to commend the district for many things. one is dedicating time, energy and resources of staffing our classrooms fully, and to the extent possible involving the union, collaborating and informing us. it's been a different version for each of the pathways. so i am glad to know -- i just had a meeting this afternoon with helen pettycott, that the program is halfway into the schoo