Week of March 1st

 UAI Staff News

Volume VIII

Issue 31

March 1st, 2021

Principal's Message

Congratulations to our newest Chancellor,  Meisha Ross Porter! Chancellor Porter is the first black, woman chancellor in New York City.  Additionally, she is a lifelong New York City public school educator, Chancellor Porter brings much needed experience AND perspective that will sheppard us through the end of this crisis and a reboot into in-person learning.  I was lucky enough to work with Meisha as a fellow Urban Assembly principal for many years, and like so many who have worked alongside her, I am absolutely thrilled to have her caliber of leadership, care, and competency at the helm of the DOE.  It is an exciting and wonderful way to begin Women's History Month with Meisha as our new chancellor.  Our schools and our students are in good hands with Meisha, and I am excited to see what she has to bring, and I am thrilled that our school and our students get to see her as a role model for activism and leadership!

 

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

No Birthdays this Week!

Student Birthdays

Sunday, 28FEB21:  Bryanna V (11), Zaria BM (6)

Tuesday, 02MAR21: Diana A (11), Soha H (10)

Wednesday 03MAR21: Stephanie M(11)

Thursday, 04MAR21: Savay (6)  

Saturday, 06MAR21:  Meagan Z(11) Ashlee S (10)

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 met to review reopening plans for in-person learning in the middle school, and plans to do targeted intervention for students with 3 or more NXes from MP2.  This week will be the first full week of MS in-person learning, and it looks increasingly likely that High School will return in the upcoming weeks.  Middle School staff met on Tuesday to review plans for both reopening and working to better support students who are not successful in remote learning.  We will be reviewing those plans with high grade teams in phases in the upcoming weeks.

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).  This past week the equity team meeting to review teacher and student questionnaire responses and review readings from Fair Isn't Always Equal.  Both teacher and student questionnaires revealed that there is still some confusion around the current UAI grading policy.  The reading this week was focused on grading for effort and participation. Next week we are meeting with the Mastery Collaborative to learn more about what mastery based grading actually means.  

Elevate Coaches Start This Week! Grades 6-9 advisories will begin their series of study skills lessons with Elevate coaches this week.  Please double check your scheduled time and make sure your links work.  If you have not received an email from our Elevate contact, Mike Honiball (mike@elevateeducation.com) with your coach information and lessons, please reach out to him directly and cc Jen so that she can provide support where needed.

Support our Students! Sophomores Oyinade Falope and Hussna Buldan are in need of our help. They formed a petition fighting for the representation of black women in Brooklyn NYC monuments.  They did a lot of promotions to get people's signatures on the petition and they were able to secure 85 signatures within 3 days but they haven't had any for a while. If they are able to secure enough signatures they might be able to see the statue of one of the black heroes we chose, Jane Bolin, in Brooklyn. Please let's help them!  Please share their link: https://www.change.org/p/joseph-r-biden-displaying-black-heroes-in-brooklyn-nyc (And you can also search Displaying Black Heroes In Brooklyn NYC on change.org) in your own personal social media  and please share with your advisees and families this week to really get the word out!  Let's see if we can turn that 85 to 850 by the end of the week!!

Peer Mentoring Program.  Damon is leading the work to build our first Peer Mentoring Program. There were an outstanding number of applications from students, but we still need staff recommendations for students who could benefit from having a peer mentor. Here's where you can make this a success...

1. Open Peer Mentorship Teacher Recommendations and enter the names of students who would benefit from this program. 
2. Please talk o the student you are recommending. We don't want to cold call them and have them be upset about being contacted to be supported. A quick mention in advisory or email would be sufficient.

March Not Madness. Next week, we will share plans for our annual March Not Madness celebration of mindfulness, self-care, and general appreciation of our staff!   So, please make sure we have the correct mailing address for you for the month of March.  There's still some folks who haven't given us their most up to date information, so please let us know your mailing address by completing this FORM.  

First Full Week of MS In-Person Learning. We are still refining the in-person return to learning program, so teachers, please continue to check the program as it is not yet final as in-person changes are still occurring.  For example, for students who are already in-person, we are opening the option to them to join us four days a week.  Many of Amy's advisory already said yes, and we'll hear from Sarah & Phillan's advisories tomorrow!  In addition, we're bringing our 6/7 graders who had three or more NXes in MP2 for four days a week to better support them in their academic growth and success.  So, as these changes occur, we will need to accommodate students needs.  

Post Grades Weekly. Please review the UAI grading policy and make time in your week to grade and provide feedback to students each week.  Grades should be posted weekly, as a reminder.

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.  Posting closed.  Thank you to everyone who applied!

Applied:  Cherry, Damon, Doris, Judy, Kelly, Marsha, Nadine, Nakita, Nina, Phillan, Rebecca C, Sarah R, Suzanna

Staffed:  Still TBD

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