Urban Assembly Institute of Math & Science for Young Women
28 September 2026
School Leadership Message
Last week's conference event and PTA meeting was a good reminder of the importance of building strong and trusting relationships with our families. When families and school staff have open lines of communication and a strong sense of partnership, we are better able to support student academically, socially, and emotionally. We are going to continue to prioritize meaningful family engagement and look for new ways to create opportunities for collaboration, communication, and connection.
- We will continue to ensure our family phone call system is working effectively and consistently - where all families are given at least monthly updates on how their child is doing academically and social-emotionally across all classes.
- We will engage families in meaningful conversations about their student’s progress, areas for growth, and the supports they can expect from us as we work together to help their child succeed.
- To do this, we will host whole school evening workshops focused on understanding their student's screener data and the ways in which we are pushing their child to grow.
- We will formalize our PTA and SLT structures so that parents have a true role in and authentic voice in shaping how we serve our students and families.
Upcoming Events.
See Master Calendar Here. Trips, assessment days, evening family events, student engagement activities and more.
- October 2: Trip to BlackRock Finance Seminar
- October 5: Smile Dentist at UAI
- October 7: Woodhull Hospital Trip
- October 25, 5-7pm: In person PTA meeting and Screener Workshop
- Monday PD. During this week's PD we will discuss the NHJ Essay and how UAI can pull lessons from it. Please come to the farm directly after 7th period. During this session we will...
- ...understand & discuss the importance maintaining the level rigor our students deserve
- ...continue to develop a shared understanding of what intellectual engagement looks like in an effective classroom
- Family Phone Calls. Please continue reaching out to your outreach case load - Rosie will be following up with anyone who may need support.
- As a reminder - it is best practice to call home, not send email or text, as you begin to build relationships with the families on your list. Please prioriteze this in the coming weeks.
- To Bell or Not to Bell? I am considering using period bells to help curb the lateness to class and I want to hear your thoughts before making a decision. Right now, it is hard to hold students accountable to being on time to class because the dismissal from each room is not consistent - even a one minute difference from room to room makes it nearly impossible to hold kids accountable to getting the next period on time. Couple this with no way for kids to check time (many hallway clocks are inaccurate) and it feels like we are setting them up to not meet expectations. Please fill in this extremely short form and share your thinking on this!
- Project Cafe. This year, you can opt into using Project Cafe to leverage video in supporting your teaching practice!Project Cafe is a video-based coaching tool that gathers and synthesizes data from your classroom. This data is used strictly for your own growth—it is a reflection tool, not an evaluation tool. The goal of Cafe is to highlight the high-quality instructional practices already happening in your classroom and help you leverage those existing strengths to continuously improve in other areas.If you are curious about how Project Cafe works, you can watch this demo video, or read through this FAQ guide for a full breakdown of how the tool works and its built-in data protections.If you are interested in trying Cafe or learning more, reach out to Judy or talk to a peer who is already a Cafe user!
- Mandatory Training for All Staff - Due by Oct 30.
- New this school year is the OSPP Youth Development Training for All Staff 26-27. This asynchronous training covers mandatory trainings for ALL school staff, including non-instructional staff. It must be completed by October 30.
- This training is available on WeLearn: ALL STAFF Youth Development Asynchronous Training Link.
NYCPS Language Assistance Tool: All staff have access to Hello!, a NYCPS language assistance tool that provides automated interpretation support between staff and multilingual families. New this year, Hello! is available through the App Store, and/or Google Play, in addition to TeachHub. This resource:
Language Access Services: To support compliance with Chancellor’s Regulation A-663, NYCPS provides the following language access services and resources you may use to communicate with families who prefer to communicate in a language other than English:
Operational Updates.
- Please see here for our 2026-27 Staff Directory.
- All purchase requests must be made through this form for this year! We have begun making purchases for items already requested!
School Culture Update.
Lateness. We are noticing an increase in students arriving late to class. Consistently addressing lateness helps reinforce the expectation that instructional time matters. When students arrive late to your class please make sure to:
- Acknowledge the late arrival rather than allowing students to enter unnoticed.
- Keep the interaction brief so instruction is not disrupted: “You’re late. Please get started, and we’ll check in after class.”
- Avoid addressing the issue publicly or engaging in a back-and-forth during instruction.
- Look for patterns. If a student is frequently late, have a private conversation to understand what may be contributing to the behavior.
- Reinforce the expectation: Students should be in class and ready to learn when the period begins.
- Follow the school’s established response for repeated lateness and communicate recurring patterns to the student support team.
The goal is not simply to catch students being late - it is to build a culture where students understand that being on time is part of being ready to learn.
Family and Community Updates.
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