Week of September 27th

 UAI Staff News

Volume IX
Issue 5
September 27th, 2021

Principal Message

First Full Week and Now Onto October.  It's hard to believe that this Friday will be the first day of OCTOBER already!   We our first 5day week in the books and by the end of this week, we'll have September all wrapped up!  

Of course, this wouldn't be the DOE if guidance wasn't shifting constantly like sand in a dessert.  So..here's the latest...

Nearly all of us are doing an excellent job with helping students maintain distance in classrooms and keeping their masks up.  Hallway passing is not distanced, but they are also not in the halls long enough to be considered close contacts.  So, yay us! 

The DOE has updated guidance on what is considered to be a close contact.  What is definitely the same is that anyone who tests positive for COVID must quarantine for 10 days.  Also the same is if a person is experiencing COVID like symptoms (fever >100, cough, new loss of taste/smell), they cannot enter the building and must test negative for COVID and be symptom free for 24 hours before reentry.

What has changed is the definition of Close Contact.  Students who are continually masked and 3 or more feet away from someone who tests positive for COVID are not considered to be close contacts anymore.  Only close contacts are expected to quarantine.   Since all of our classrooms are able to space students 3' or more, and masks are mandated 100% of the time, we can expect our list of quarantined students to shrink.

Folks who are vaccinated and exposed are not expected to quarantine unless they are symptomatic (again, Fever>100, cough, new loss of taste/smell).

This is undoubtedly news that increases anxiety more than anything.  As we cope with our anxieties, it's important to center the truth that being vaccinated protects us from hospitalization or death due to COVID, and being young protects our students from those same things.  Even with Delta surging a huge spike in children being infected with COVID, youngsters still share a very similar LOW risk of hospitalization/death due to COVID as vaccinated adults.

That said, even though the risk is low (1-2% for both groups, children/vaccinated folks), it's stressful to think about the risk that one child could suffer.  That is so true.  But keep things in perspective.  We all encounter risk each day.  Taking the subway; riding your bike to work, walking home from school.  Risk of bad things happen is never zero.  So, while it is true that the DOE is playing a numbers game with folks' lives, it is also true that at present at least, the numbers are very much in their favor.

Thank you all for weathering these sandy dunes of policy shifts with me. 

Thank you more for all that you do to keep our kids safe and learning in this crazy times!

Committee Updates

No Updates this week.  We are still working on staffing committees.  Please scroll down to the per session postings.  We're launching committee work next week.  So, theres still time to apply!

To Do

Program Check.  We have completed one full week of the 6th-10th grade programs and we're kicking off the first full week of 11th/12th grade programs.  The first week of any program will have glitches.  So please reach out if you see anything on your program before hand or on the day of.   Even though you are not a student, please use the Program Change Request form to notify me of any program glitches.  It's the best way I can track needed changes.  If you email me any of your ideas or issues, they will be lost in my inbox!  So, please use the form!

Take Skedula Attendance and Bubble Sheet Attendance.  Now that the program has been uploaded, you should be able to take attendance in Skedula and on your bubble sheets (for your 2nd period classes only).   Please continue to take Learning Lab and Small Group attendance on THIS ATTENDANCE FORM

Quarantine Attendance.  If students are on COVID quarantine due to being in close contact with a COVID positive individual, please do NOT mark them absent.  They are considered present and remote.  There's no real way to mark that in Skedula (I don't think)...so for now just leave them as present.  Please refer to THIS SHEET  to see who is on Quarantine.

Maintain 3' distance (or more) and ALWAYS have masks up.  Please remember to be vigilant about spacing and masking with kids in your classrooms.  Please do NOT allow children to eat inside your classrooms AT ALL.  They can take quick drinks of water if needed, but please do not allow food in the classroom at any time.  This is both a COVID safety rule and a health & hygiene rule.  Please follow it and help your students follow it.

Program Change Updates.  I am working through all the program change requests each day and making changes daily.  I'm hoping to complete them all by early this week, but certainly no later than Friday.  Please help your advisees access PupilPath so they can see the changes as they happen.  Also, there will be incidents where students do NOT get their choice.  Please help them understand that while students may not always get what they want, they will always get what they need!

Technology Distribution.  Phil and Dai are working together with your updates on the UAI Roster Tab from the UAI School Schedule to get students the tech they need.  They are beginning this Friday to distribute the tech.  So please make sure you have updated the Technology Column for your Advisees.

Announcements

Introducing Our New School Business Manager.  I am please to finally announce that Dai Jiménez has finally been processed by DOE Human Resources and was finally able to join UAI for reals!  As our School Business Manager, Dai will be charged with managing Purchasing, Staff Payroll, Timekeeping & HR support, School Facilities, and School Compliance.  She will be ramping up to assume full responsibilities of Purchasing and Facilities right away, with Compliance, Payroll and Timekeeping to come by November.

We'll be having a quick full staff meeting so Dai can meet you all on Monday at 3PM in the library.  Dai's office is 201 (ext 20111/daij@uainstitute.org).  For now, in her own words, here's a brief intro:

My given name is Davira Jiménez. I prefer to be called Dai, however. Ya know, like toDAY. I am a proud Brooklynite, born to parents of Afro-Caribbean descent. And, I am absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to work within a Brooklyn community. 

I am excited to be joining UAI as the School Business Manager. Before UAI, I worked in other schools as an Operations professional and Culture advocate. As a result of my time in schools I have become more in touch with the importance of prioritizing the safety and care of the communities I work with. I believe wholeheartedly in the learning, the understanding and the restoring of faith in our communities. Not just the ones I come from directly. 

Needless to say, I look forward to sharing the learning with all of you. Thank you for having me. Now, let's make it a great year!

Per Session Postings

• Posting Extended to 04OCT21: 
  Equity Team: 
  Applied:  Sarah M, Phillan, Laura, Elana, Suzannah, Olympia
  Staffing:  TBD by current Equity Team.  If you are still interested in joining the Equity Team, please email Kiri and click here to apply 
  
  

• Posting Extended to Posting Closed: 
  Instructional Leadership Team: 
  Applied:  Nina, Nakita, Phillan, Rachel, and Kelly
  Staffed:  Nina, Nakita, Phillan, Rachel, and Kelly
  
  

• Posting Extended to 04OCT21: 
  Circles Committee: 
  Applied:  Nakita, Juelle, Jennifer, Olympia
  Staffing:  Still TBD.  If you are interested in joining the Circles, please email Kiri and click here to apply 
  
  
  
• Posting Extended to Posting Closed:  
  School Culture Committee:  
  Applied:  Kelly, Kristina, Elana, Cherry, Phillan, Elena, Laura
  Staffed: We are recruiting 1 staff person from each grade-team for this role (so that we have a person on each grade team to streamline communication).
• Phillan 6th Grade Rep
• Laura 7th Grade Grade Rep
• Kristina 8th Grade Rep
• Elana 9th Grade Rep
• Jessa 10th Grade Rep
• Cherry 11th Grade Rep
• Kelly 12th Grade Rep