Week of February 22nd

 UAI Staff News

Volume VIII

Issue 30

February 22nd 2021

Principal's Message

Welcome back from the Midwinter Recess!  Hopefully, each of you were able to recharge and relax over the vacation.  This past year has been a challenge and a marathon, and making sure we prioritize time to recharge will be key to the longevity of our success this school year.

In a few short weeks we will reach the one-year mark of teaching and learning in Remote School.  Too frequently, it's too easy to focus on everywhere we fall short.  It's a testament to your commitment to excellence and providing the highest quality education & learning experiences for our students.  This past year has been a year of firsts for all of us - students, staff, and families alike!  As we have learned to master new ways of teaching, our students & families are learning to master new ways of learning.  Our success rate is far below what would happen in the usual, in-person learning world.  But when you take a step back and flip the perspective, another view is that the overwhelming majority of our students have managed to thrive in this brand new way kind of school.

Focusing on where we can continually improve is essential for continued growth.  However, just as rest and recharging is essential for stamina and persistence, making time to appreciate your students' achievements (and thus your own success) is essential for your own sense of self-efficacy.  

So, as we move forward into the Spring term and pass the one-year mark of learning in the time of COVID, create a new routine for yourself that allows you to take regular stock of all that went well in the week.  Recognize that your students' successes are the results of your thoughts, ideas, and efforts in planning and executing lessons and learning experiences that lead them to those achievements.  Celebrate your students and then, celebrate yourself!  

 

Don't Forget To Scroll To the Bottom to See This Week's Per Session Postings

There's QUITE A FEW NEW ONES this week!!!

Birthdays This Week

Happy Birthday Alison (Monday, 22FEB)!!

Student Birthdays

Sunday, 21FEB21:  Jenese V(6)

Monday, 22FEB21:  Daliah G (7)

Tuesday, 23FEB21: Sky C (8)

Wednesday 24FEB21: Sumaya(12), Fatima(11), Abijayil(10),
Eman(9), Adrianna(9), Ciara (8)

                                                    Thursday, 25FEB21: Madison W(11)

                                                   Friday, 26FEB21:  Geriyah (9)

UAI Committee Updates.  Please see updated dates for Spring 2021 Staff Meetings.

Staff Circles Committee (Members: Annie, Jennifer, Juelle, Marsha, & Nakita) No updates this week.

School Restructuring Committee (Members: Annie, Courtney, Jen, Kiri, Laura, Marsha, Nadine, Nina, and SarahM).  The SRC will be meeting to review scheduling plans for the return to In Person learning for the middle school.  All middle school will receive their program updates once the SRC has approved all changes (Tuesday 23FEB).

The Equity Team (Suzannah, Nina, Elana, Kelly, Phillan, Annie, Nakita, Rebecca C, Damon, Ms. King (Kianna’s mom), Ms. Barnes (Alyssa’s mom), Ms. Martuscello (Veronica’s mom), Kianna King, Emily Payamps, Jerlai Tyner, Jamilah Alshawish, Salia Naschel).  The equity team will resume work this Thursday, February 25th by researching equitable grading practices by reading Fair Isn't Always Equal and analyzing the data collected from the teacher and student surveys regarding the UAI grading policy.

UAI Final Black History Month Activities.  This week is our last week of Black History month.  Many thanks to all the folks who have pulled together a fabulous month of activities.  Please show your support with our students by joining as many of these activities as you can to finish out this month of celebration strong!

March Not Madness. We are planning some activities for our annual March Not Madness celebration of mindfulness, self-care, and general appreciation of our staff!  Because we are in COVID, we're going to need to mail some things home to you all.  So, please make sure we have the correct mailing address for you for the month of March.  Please let us know your mailing address by completing this FORM.  

Middle School Return to In Person Learning. The SRC will be meeting on Monday afternoon to review program changes for in-person learning.   On Tuesday afternoon, Office Hours will be cancelled for all Middle School Teachers and Paras for a mandatory meeting about the re-opening of in-person learning on Thursday, 25FEB for students in grades 6-8.   Please join the meeting at 2PM to review the schedule changes and important announcements:  

https://zoom.us/j/91858403438; 

Meeting ID: 918 5840 3438

Passcode: mTRf9N

Town Hall for Middle School Families. We will also be holding a Town Hall meeting for Middle School students and Families on Tuesday at 5PM.  Middle School Advisors, please share with your families and students:

https://zoom.us/j/96078273960

Meeting ID: 960 7827 3960

Passcode: UAIwelcome

Post Grades Weekly. As a reminder, please make time to post up weekly grades into Skedula so students and families have a timely understanding about how students are growing and performing in your classes.  Our next round of family conferences are in three weeks.  Regular posting to Skedula ensure that students and families aren't surprised by anything come SLC time!

Per Session Postings

To Apply for any of the following per session opportunities, please COMPLETE THIS FORM and email the appropriate point person listed in this posting.  

Hiring Committee.  We are forming our hiring committee.  During hiring season, members selected to the committee should be ready to spend 1-5 hours per week doing the following activities:

• Candidate Recruitment
• Outreach to colleges and universities - Including NYS & NYC, and also HBCUs, 
• Researching and finding and attending hiring fairs for people of color
• Present at hiring fairs and actively recruit attendees to UAI Interviews
• Outreach to communities and community organizations
• Leverage Social Media, and current UAI Community Connections to find staff
• Develop creative approaches for reaching and maximizing the number of candidates of color applying to work at UAI.
  
  
• Create a strong presentation of who we are (visual and verbal)
• Leverage what makes us special!
• Highlight anti-racist work, creative programming, Juneteenth, all-girls, college and career focused, mission as a whole, teacher growth focus, teacher-centered/planned PD’s
• Provide content on UAI Website around hiring, staffing, and UAI community to provide a public facing sense of what it is like to be part of our community
• Facilitate interviews and demo lessons/debriefs
• Conduct panel and individual interviews
• Review demo lesson plans, and independently learn any new content to be prepared to conduct comprehensive debrief of demo lessons
  
  

Candidates for this Position will be Selected using the following criteria:
Ability to present the school well - focusing on things to highlight
Capacity to remain open and intentionally weigh many factors, and refrain from making quick judgements
Commitment to criteria and the the UAI hiring process
Commitment to anti-racist work and mission of UAI
Effective teachers with a solid understanding of instruction and discipline

8 positions available (representing all positions in HS & MS) Posting closes 22FEB21.  Please complete the per session interest form and email Kiri & Annie.

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