Week of 10/15

UAI Staff News

Volume VI

Issue 9

October 15th, 2018

[149 School Days Remaining]

Announcements

Student Recruitment.  Our student recruitment is in full swing this weekend with staff and students working hard in Brooklyn and Manhattan.  We are looking to maximize our incoming classes next year to grow our school size.  UAI is a special and exciting school for young women, and more young girls should have the opportunity to join us!  Many thanks to the staff and students who gave their time this weekend, and many thanks to Ms. Jen who has been spearheading this hard and intense work!

To Do This Week

Grades due on Wednesday by 3PM.  The first marking period ended on Friday, 12OCT18.  As with all marking periods, you should communicate with students that at UAI our grades are cumulative.  That means that marking period report cards are like snapshots of progress, and students continue their work and development through each marking period until the final one in June.  For Dance and Ms. Giselle's Spanish classes, all grades will be "NG" or no-grade and student work will pick back up for the 2nd marking period.  Please remind students and families, that marking period grades are progress reports and the only grade that goes onto transcripts is the final grade in June.

Dance Position Filled.  During Consultation Committee, several people brought up concerns about rumors that students were spreading regarding Sursattie's sudden absence.  Whenever students bring up rumors, we always need to counter with consistency and safety - even if we don't know the whole story.  Students need to feel that they are in a safe, secure, and healthy school - always.  With respect to Sursattie, her departure was uncertain for a while, and it was not clear what the final decision was going to be.  Ultimately, she decided to resign due to personal and health reasons.  The final decision came on September 28th.  We have been trying to find a replacement since the start of September, but at this time of year, there are no quality DOE certified dance teachers who are able to fill the position.  Ms. Tracy has a dance license and will be taking over the position starting on Monday.  We still have two ATR staff (Ms. Pamela and Mr. J) who will be on staff to help cover Ms. Tracy's classes until we find a solution there (which is in the works and should be finalized this week).  Mr. Matthew (our regular sub) will be covering the rest of Ms. Giselle's maternity leave until November 2nd.   

First PTA-Staff Workshop.  Tomorrow will be our first Staff-Parent workshop with two more to follow in December and April.  Please meet in the Library and please arrive on time at 3PM.  On Thursday, the Consultation Committee met to help plan the workshop and came up with the following goals and agenda:

Goal:  By the end of the workshop Parents and Staff will build stronger community tie by collaboratively revising the mission of UAI.  In so doing, parent and staff members of our community will have a shared understanding of the mission of our school and how best to promote the mission for our students.  

• 3:00 Welcome and Overview of the Afternoon
• 3:15 Storytelling IceBreaker
• 3:30 Taking at Look at UAI's Mission
• UAI's Story - in your own words
• Sharing - What did we all have in common?
• What does the Mission Say?
• 4:00 Understanding our Glows and Grows
• What parts of our mission come through strongest and why?
• What parts of our mission are less visible and why?
• 4:30 Making the Mission Real
• In what ways do we realize the mission in our actions with students?
• In what ways can we improve?
• 5:00 Taking a look at the UA Mission and NYCDOE Mission 
• How do we fit in?  Why is it important to see UAI in this work?
• Write another mission statement
• 5:20 End of Workshop

We are trying to create groups for this workshop.  If you have not filled out THIS SHEET please do so now.  Even if you have zero parents confirmed, please fill out your name and enter "no parents confirmed" so that we know and can group accordingly.  If you have parents and have yet to enter them, please do so now! Thank you!!

SEL This Week

Review & Relationships. This week 6th graders showed how much they have learned in SEL class thus far by participating in a family feud style review game.  Not only did they get really into it but they proved that they are retaining important information about why we have SEL and how developing the skills are useful and important!  They also spent time being thoughtful about friendship and made "friend wanted" ads stating the type of friend they would want and how they themselves would make a good friend to others.  Their ads were full of depth, honesty and even humor.  We are going to try to display them in the hall by 304 if you want to take a look! 

Per Session Opportunities

Student Government Teacher. Students have always wanted to participate in student government.  At UAI, we've struggled to find someone to help build the program and create a sustainable system for our students.  We're looking for a teacher to run a 6-12 student government that would meet after schools from 1-2 hours of per session per week.  Responsibilities would include managing elections and then holding regular meetings to conduct and complete government duties - which will also need to be articulated with the group.