Principal' Message 5/19/08

GIVING THANKS FOR A “WELL DEVELOPED” SCHOOL

Again, I would like to congratulate you all for a job well done! Many doubted that we would be able to achieve a “Well Developed” rating at our school and we proved them wrong. We need to set aside a moment of reflection to thank those who supported us a great deal from outside of the school. For starters, Mr. Epstein, our Network Leader, was behind us as a Superintendent last year and made it a point to include us in his network this year. He has been extremely helpful in the direction the school has established and the great accomplishments we have achieved. The next person who was instrumental in our success is Dr. Izquierdo, our Community Superintendent. He has been an advocate for our school since the first day I stepped foot into the Jackie Robinson Complex. He has been generous with providing for our school. He even allowed Ms. McKinley to be a part of our community. Another person is Janice Medina, my mentor, was also a tremendous supporter of our school. She helped us a great deal during the writing of the CEP and planning for this school year. She has been a great help in developing goals for the school and maintaining our path to achieving them. Finally, our state liaison, Pat Wong, has been a positive impact on the school. She helped in preparing for the QR and has been very responsive when we needed her most.

QUALITY REVIEW RESULTS

The Quality Review was a very rewarding process. Despite the fact that we received a well developed rating, it also gave us a clear idea of how we can take the school to the next level. Please review the report below. It will be the driving point for our September planning. Again, congratulations! You have earned this great recognition for our school.

What the school does well
· Under the principals exceptional and transformational leadership the school has made significant and rapid progress since the last review.
· This is a reflective school which analyzes the information it has and is therefore able to move forward from a position of strength and understanding to address its identified priorities.
· This is a learning community where staff are totally committed to improving their own practice so they can further meet the needs of all students.
· The developing relationship between students and staff enables learning to take place within a culture of mutual respect and understanding.
· The various committees provide extremely valuable expertise, understanding and care to enhance the development of all students.
· Learning needs of low achieving students are particularly well identified, understood and addressed through targeted support enabling them to make good progress.
· Teachers are extremely well supported in the development of their instruction and provided with personalized strategies to enhance their professional expertise.
· Teachers feel empowered by the leadership style of the principal and in turn grasp the opportunities they are afforded to contribute willingly to the development of the school.
· The collection and analysis of data is particularly well used to inform curriculum planning and instruction.
· The school is extremely well placed to sustain the capacity for positive improvement it has already demonstrated.


Areas for Improvement

· Further refine the goal setting process by using prior achievement data to set specific, measurable, realistic and challenging targets for all students which are shared with them.
· Increase the level of challenge for middle and high achievers to extend their thinking and maximize their potential.
· Continue to support all teachers in their instructional practice so learning continues to be accelerated.
· Continue to implement strategies that promote high attendance.

ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE DISCIPLINE COMMITTEE

The discipline committee meets every Thursday from 3:15 to 4:15 to address issues surrounding the structure, implementation, and effectiveness of the school-wide discipline code. In our last meeting, we began revising the code's interventions.

- Planning for Next Year: The discipline committee has begun planning for next year. Our current focus is on the discipline code's interventions. We will be working on this area of the code for the next several weeks. If you would like your voice to be heard, please attend the meeting next Friday in Mr. Allen's room.

CHILD STUDY

Good questions have emerged over the last couple weeks in regards to the Child Study Team’s system for follow-up.

How do we know who is doing what?
Who do we talk to in order to know what is happening with the child?
How do I know if there is something I am expected to do? I was one of the 3 names on the yellow referral form…I don’t know what to do next…
What time- frame should I expect between the day I handed in the referral and the day I begin to “hear something” about the child?
Who is on the Child Study Team?


If you have had any of these questions (or perhaps another question, not yet listed here), please raise your hand. Yes—look around—there are plenty of hands in the air.

Some of these hands belong to members of the Child Study Team!

Aha!—What does this tell us?

Simply this—as a work in progress—only weeks old, we are working very hard as a team and as an educational community to clarify the details, the specifics, to set protocol, to ask questions and to answer them…..and to help to make the work of the team as transparent and as effective as possible.

As we venture into new territory as a school, we are assisted by the leadership of our LSO specialists, who have helped schools throughout New York City to create and to lead highly successful Child Study Teams. We bring our school’s internal leadership and expertise to the table as we discuss referred children, and as we decide the best ways to proceed (this means ALL OF US!). We listen to the questions and concerns raised, we discuss, review, rethink, fine-tune and create.

As we look toward our next school year, we know that the answers to these and other questions shall become clearer—because each one of us will have brought our wisdom to the table and we will have created an outstanding team whose efforts contribute to major positive change in the lives of our children.

Let us continue to ask questions.
Let us continue to make recommendations.
Let us continue to believe in the promise and the potential of our Child Study Team.

COMMUNITY CORNER

We are planning to set up events for the last month for our parents. We are also mapping out next year so we are able to give our parents information. Letters to 8th grade parents are going out detailing Senior Events this spring. Graduation has been finalized at Riverbank State Park for Monday June 16th, 2008 at 2:00pm. We are participating in a trip to Shea Stadium this week, and planning a WII Event with Champs. Anyone wanting to volunteer in events or with any fundraising ideas please see Ms. Negron. Thank you and have a great week.

ATTENDANCE

This Attendance Interval report lists the number and percent of students whose Year-to-Date (YTD) attendance falls within each attendance interval. That is, the report calculates the number and percent of students whose YTD attendance rate is 100% (Perfect attendance), the number and percent of students whose YTD attendance is 90% through 99%, and so on. The report includes students on register as of the effective date; the YTD attendance is calculated as of the effective date.
100% (Perfect) 14 4.1
90% TO 99% 190 56.2 80% TO 89% 79 23.3 70% TO 79% 32 9.4
60% TO 69% 11 3.2
50% TO 59% 7 2.0
40% TO 49% 2 0.5
30% TO 39% 1 0.2
20% TO 29% 1 0.2
10% TO 19% 0 0.0
1% TO 9% 1 0.2
0% (No Show) 0 0.0 Total Students 338

It looks like the rain is still having an impact on our attendance. Be sure to speak to any students who were not in school last week and urge them to make it into the building. If we all send the same message to these students, we can make a difference.
May your preparations meet your vision, your colleagues provide information, and no risk blind you from your mission. Have a great week….

Birthdays:
Rachel Levene May 1st
Danita Scott May 2nd
David Deatherage May 2nd
Leslie Tatum May 12th
Rosa Calvet May 15th
John Gonzalez May 15th
John Ciano May 19th
Cassandra Williams May 21st
Zoe Markoupulus May 28th

Quote of the Week
“It isn't the incompetent who destroys an organization. The incompetent never gets in a position to destroy it. It is those who have achieved something and want to rest upon their achievements who are forever clogging things up.”—F.M. Young