Week of March 22nd

 UAI Staff News

Volume VIII

Issue 34

March 22nd, 2021

Principal's Message

Spring Awakening & Thinking

Spring is finally here.  Winter in a global pandemic is particularly depressing and distressing, so the welcome daylight and warmer temperatures are extra welcome this year.  Tomorrow, we take another step forward in awakening from the winter of our school closures.  High school students and staff report to school tomorrow, and while there is no shortage of anxiety and uncertainty.  That said, it is also the next step towards re-awakening our school to in-person learning.

Looking ahead, summer school and the fall hold increasing promise of opening & awakening....and rethinking.  

I've been thinking a lot lately of what it means to hold high standards and what exactly learning loss is.  The shake up into remote learning has definitely put a spotlight on what we prioritize in our teaching and learning and why we do what we choose to do.  Coupling this with the work we are doing around equity and inclusion as a school community, the potential of what our school could be when we reopen is an exciting and inspiring question.

That said, we have work to do.  There are many who feel that we lower standards for our black and brown students in the hopes of doing "right".  We are far from being clear and in agreement what "standards" we are holding and/or lowering, and we have much work to get into alignment around what is "right" for our students.  Here are some of my thinkings and wonderings about the work we need to do as we prepare for reopening tomorrow, this summer, and next fall.

Academic Standards.  When we are holding standards, are we looking at an external expectation (e.g. state standards), and are those standards truly reflecting and including the stories (not just the ancient histories of feudal Japan or the Mayan empire) and accomplishments of black and brown people beyond how they fall into the dominant narrative of a white, European experience.   Who is setting the standards for our black and brown students, and which of these standards will empower our students and which will act to continue the systems of racism?  If our course offerings de-centered whiteness and heterosexuality in exchange for delving deep into black and brown cultures and LGBTQ histories & achievements, we would not only be holding students to high academic standards BUT ALSO engaging them in content that is more reflective of who they are.  So, if in order to create the space in our curriculum to achieve this, we have to release the yoke of NYS Middle School and High School exams, is that lowering standards?  In my mind, no.  In others, maybe?  In others, yes.  This is work we need to do.

Standards for Academic Behaviors.  When we are holding standards for how we think students should act and behave....where are these expectations coming from?  We don't have a collectively established idea of what kids should or shouldn't be able to do at various ages.  I frequently hear the refrain, "When they get to the real world...they won't be able to...", but I also hear this refrain at ALL 7 of our grade levels.  So, if we're all thinking about what will happen to our students when they get to the real world, who is thinking about what should be happening within our four walls to get them prepared?  When do we teach them the skills we expect them to show us?  How do we, as a community, create the time to teach them how to self-advocate, self-manage, and set goals so that they are able to submit work on time, ask for feedback, and pursue high quality vs. completion.  We all expect students to show us these skills, but I am not sure where we teach them in each of our classrooms.  So, together as a community, we need to figure out how & when we are teaching the SEL and Executive Functioning skills required for academic success.  Without it, we our biases of what should be will govern our students, leading to questions of who is doing what in terms of holding students to high standards.  This is also work we need to do. 

Focus on Competency and Excellence.  Recently, I joined the Equity Team when Joy from the  Mastery Collaborative joined them to talk more about grading.   All of us are entrenched in our assumptions about grades, because all of us have experienced a form of traditional grading for a significant part of our lives.  However, there's nothing like a global pandemic to shake us out of our routines.  What shook me most about this experience was Joy's simple posing of a question.  Why do we spend time or energy detailing failure (e.g. the Level 1 or 2 or the Ineffective of Developing) in rubrics.  If we are laser focused on competencies & excellence (Level 3/4 or Effective/Highly Effective), then the failures become tools for learning in pursuit of the desired outcomes (competencies & excellence).  For me, this simple question shook my thinking around teacher evaluation.  I don't want to focus on failure for failure sake.  I want to use failure as a learning tool to help teachers better understand what to shift and change to improve practice.  I want all teachers to do the same for our students, and this means, we have to figure out what teachers need to be able to do this effectively.  This, too, is work we need to do.

These are the three chunks of focus as we step into our next step toward our return to school.  The first was taken by our brave middle school staff and students; the next will be to welcome our high school staff and students.  Soon enough, we will all be back, and along the way, we will be doing a lot of work and thinking so that when we reopen next fall, we are ready to offer something more and better than what we left in March of 2020.  We are ready to offer a school that our staff, students and families will need and love. 

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

Birthdays This Week

Happy Birthday Kristina (25MAR)!!

If you have a Bday this week, I don't have it on my calendar!

Send me an email So I can Add it!

Student Birthdays

Sunday, 21MAR21:  Aleena E (8)

Tuesday, 23MAR21: Lavina (10), Shania R(10)

Wednesday, 24MAR21: Laila G(11)

Thursday, 25MAR21: Syeda (9), Milan (6)

Friday, 26MAR21: Sanai T (9)

Spring Break Birthdays:  28MAR (Seani, Alizett); 31MAR (Mychelle, Lakaya), 03APR (Calandra)

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

Staff Circles Committee  (Members: Annie, Jennifer, Juelle, Marsha, & Nakita)

On Friday, we departed from our originally planned Circle to hold space for our staff amid the Anti-Asian violence against the AAPI community. Our decision for this Circle was based on doing what was best and necessary for our school; we hope we accomplished that. The conversation about Anti-Asian violence does not begin or end in the Circles; the work must continue in all the spaces we are in. We will pick up our book club reading in our next Circle (April 16) focusing on excerpts from chapter two.

School Restructuring Committee (Members: Annie, Courtney, Jen, Kiri, Laura, Marsha, Nadine, Nina, and SarahM).  The SRC agendas & minutes are always open for staff access.  Last week we reviewed the Mental Health & Social Emotional information gathered in Focus groups, and this week the SRC will set next steps for supporting staff development in SPED/ENL support and in the areas of Mental Health and SEL.

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).  Equity Team meeting notes and agenda draft. This week the Equity Team met to brainstorm and draft a statement condemning the most recent Atlanta terrorist acts and the racism against Asian Americans as of recent and throughout our country's history.  We are committed to further discussing how to build a more inclusive school for our entire school community.

Also, we reviewed feedback from last week's staff PD.  We will continue our discussion of addressing the participation grade, revising the grading policy, and the 50% grade floor. 

 

Dr. Bettina Love Joins UAI.  Dr. Bettina Love joins our community at 8:30AM on Friday to discuss her vision around schools, grading, working with black and brown girls in particular, and any of your questions that you want to share (Here's the link to submit questions to Dr. Love.).  Here quotes from Dr. Love to get you hyped and inspired for Friday!  Brandon Frame, The Urban Assembly's Director of Social Emotional Learning will be joining us to facilitate!

What does abolitionist teaching and pedagogy look like?
Abolitionist teaching looks different in every school. It comes from a critical race lens and applies methods like protest, boycotting, and calling out other teachers who are racist, homophobic, or Islamophobic. It's also about Black joy and always putting love at the center of what we're doing. [Abolitionist] teachers know how to talk about racism and homophobia in their classrooms; they organize marches and boycotts. So often, people are waiting for a leader to come along. You don't have to wait for someone else. 

What is your vision for schools?
My vision for schooling would be a school where there's no standardized testing. Yes, there are tests, but they are not high-stakes and have nothing to do with a billion-dollar industry. Second, no police, no dogs, no metal detectors. Children walk into beautiful, bright buildings that look like someone is ready to love them in that space. There would be as many therapists and healers and counselors as teachers, because what we don't talk about is the generational and everyday trauma, regardless of race and nationality, that children are dealing with. We wouldn't suspend kids. Teachers would be skillful in their content and in Latinx, Native American, and African-American culture. Teachers would live in the school's community and be paid more than they're paid now. We'd be recruiting kids to be teachers and mentoring them throughout high school and into college and paying for their schooling.

High School Reopening.  All HS staff should have received individualized notices about their programs.  This was a rapid announcement and turn around and we were in the middle of refining MS reopening.  That said, please expect that there will probably be some mistakes to fix and changes to adapt as we work through the first week of implementation.  I appreciate everyone's flexibility and understanding.  I am working day and night to make sure things are as streamlined and clear as possible.  Please, if anything is unclear, do not hesitate to reach out and ask.  Here are some key safety points to keep top of mind as you enter the building once more.

• Avoid Close Contact & Use PPE and Safety Protocols.  "Close Contact" is a currently shifting definition by the CDC & the DOE.  Currently the DOE defines a close contact as someone who was within 6 feet for 10 or more minutes with someone who is COVID positive.  Contacts of contacts are not considered close contacts.  So, by maintaining 6' distance and with all staff and students using masks, hand sanitizer, and wiping down used surfaces with disinfectant wipes, we will hopefully be able to mitigate school or classroom closure as much as possible.

• Ventilation and Air Purification.  All classrooms have an Air Purifier (Intellipure) & our building has MERV13 filters centrally installed to keep the air clean.  The temperatures are rising to comfortable levels, so teachers are welcome to open windows and doors to maximize circulation.

• Screening & Mandatory Testing.  All students and staff must submit to a daily mandatory screening and agree to weekly COVID testing.

>>TO DO<<  Family Conference Wrap Up.  You have all done amazing work to connect with our families.  Thank you all for your hard work.  Our family ties are more important than ever, and your connection to our students' families is critical to their academic success and emotional well being.  To date, 326 of 495 students have had family conferences with their advisor.  We still have a couple more to complete.  Use your Advisor outreach time this week to connect with those remaining families and complete the Advisor Conference Form, by EOD Friday, 26MAR21.  

>>TO DO<<  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.  

Summer School Per Session Post.

We are currently preparing for summer school and looking for the following positions. 

We are planning to run summer school July 12th through 29th, Mondays thru Thursdays.

Hours are still TBD and precise program offerings are still being determined and will be

driven by student needs. We are looking for up to 10 positions. 

Planning & prep time in addition to teaching time will be paid for teaching staff. 

Please complete the per session interest form and email Kiri by March 23, 2021. 

• 2 Administrators (Must have Admin certification)

• 1 Teacher Coordinator of Summer School

• 4-7 Teachers (subject to student enrollment)

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