Week of 14SEP26

 

Urban Assembly Institute of Math and                        Science for Young Women

14 September 2026

School Leadership Message

What a first week! I want to thank each of you for helping make the opening of the 2026-27 school year such a huge success. This week there was an incredible energy throughout the building... students were excited to be back (and staff seemed excited too), classrooms were welcoming and purposeful, and our community felt joyful!

A successful opening is the result of countless decisions, meetings, planning, and small acts of care. From greeting students at the door, to helping them find a classroom, to establishing routines and expectations, to simply making a student feel like they belong - these moments showed our students what it means to be part of the UAI community.

We now have the gift of a full school year to get better, to hold ourselves and our students to higher expectations, and build stronger relationships. There will be difficult weeks, unexpected challenges, and moments when we have to adjust course. But I am incredibly optimistic about what we can accomplish together.

Thank you for an outstanding start and, more importantly, thank you for everything you did to make our students feel that UAI is a place where they are known, supported, and loved.

Looking forward to week two!

Upcoming Events. 

See Master Calendar Here.  Trips, assessment days, evening family events, student engagement activities and more. 

September:

• 14-18SEP - Spirit Week!
• Monday: Teacher/Student Swap
• Tuesday: Anything but a backpack
• Wednesday: Twin Day
• Thursday: Pajama Day
• Friday: Grade Level Colors
• 21SEP - Yom Kippor - no school
• 24SEP - In-person Family Conferences, 5-7:30p
• 25SEP - PTA Breakfast with Admin, 9am

See below for some pictures from our first annual Club Fair! 

Huge THANK YOU to Shan for organizing and to all staff who gave up their time to hype up their club! We had hundreds of sign-ups! 

 

 

Announcements:

• Early Building Access. Due to permitting and DOE liability guidelines, we can no longer allow staff to enter the building earlier than 7am. I know for some of you this is an inconvenience but unfortunately, there is no flexibility on this. Thank you for your understanding.

• Evacuation Drill. Reminder - we have an evacuation drill on Wednesday at 10:30am! Please make sure you know which route to take for the drill.
• Initial Planning Conferences. This week Kelly, Rosie and I will begin scheduling Initial Planning Conferences (IPCs) for all teachers. This year we will be holding these meetings in person, rather than having you fill out a form. During these meetings we will discuss evaluations, current classes, and goals or plans for this school year. Please keep an eye out for a calendar invite from us!
• Program Change Requests. Students who are requesting program changes can make that request in this form. Please be advised that we are only make changes that are necessary - students will not be able to change classes for reasons like: I don't like the teacher... or... I want to be with my friends...
• Monday PD. We have our first Monday PD this week!  Please report to the farm as soon as 7th period ends - we hope to get started promptly by 2:55p.  
• Our PD focus this week is: What does productive struggle look like in the context of a lesson in your content area?

Instruction and Curriculum Updates.

• School Program: 
• See here for our Master Schedule. Please email Liza and Kelly with any errors, concerns, or issues. This includes room numbers too!
• STARS takes a minute to synch with OASIS. Please give time for roster changes to reflect on DOE Attendance but email Kelly & Liza if it's been more than 48 hours and students are still not showing on your Attendance lists.
• Planning: See here for the updated Pacing Guide template. It includes all testing & key calendar dates. 
• Please make a copy before editing & share to your co-teachers & Kelly, Annie, and Rosie if you haven't already!
• Special Education:
• Please log into SESIS to review the IEP of any special education student in your classes. You can quickly access their testing accommodations by going to the Staff Google Classroom, selecting "Classwork" and opening the Recommended Programs 
• We have 15 IEPs due in October. Mary will be sending out teacher reports (PLOPS) for these students. Teachers who had the student LAST YEAR will complete them. Please keep an eye out for this email! 

Operational Updates.

• Please see here for our 2026-27 Staff Directory.
• All purchase requests must be made through this form for this year! This week we will begin making purchases for items already requested!

School Culture Updates.

• All clubs (lunch and afterschool) must have attendance taken each day in this spreadsheet.
• RPET is looking for team members! Our Restorative Practice and Equity Team's first meeting will be Tuesday, 9/22 in room 403 at 3pm. Please reach out to Sue (srissberger@schools.nyc.gov) if you have questions or can't make it. Persession will be paid.

Family and Community Updates.

• PTA/SLT calendar for the year is here.
• Our first PTA meeting is scheduled for September 25th - 9am breakfast with Admin. 
• The first day for Girls Inc after school programming will be Monday, Sept. 14th. 

Per session Postings: Please Use this FORM to apply.

• Clubs! Thanks to all who expressed interest in hosting clubs. If you are running a club during lunch or afterschool please fill out the persession interest form. 
• Clubs MUST have at least 10 students enrolled and attending in order for persession or coverage pay to be paid.