Principal's Message 3-16-2009

WHERE DID IT ALL BEGIN

In two years, JHS 13 – Central Park East Middle School, was removed from the SURR List. Since my very first day, there were threats of us being placed on the list. We avoided it my first two years only because we were able to justify a new principal and the need for appropriate amount of time to orchestrate change. Finally, after two years of being the principal of JHS 13, we were placed on the list. It did not help that we received an Undeveloped on our Quality Review and at the beginning of the following school year, an F on our progress report. I guess, in a way, we had hit rock bottom as far as the city was concerned.

As a school, we rallied together to immediately begin fixing the problem. Regardless of the reviews by the state monitors and the support sent to our school, we began planning as soon as possible. Our first initiative was the Discipline Committee. They organized feedback from teachers, parents, and administration to develop the first ever school-wide discipline code. We aligned it with the UFT contract and launched it at the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year. Although the code has been edited several times, it has grown to be one of the most helpful tools to teachers and has increased communication between administrators, staff, and teachers.

The second was the birth of the School Improvement Team. They were responsible for the present bell schedule, the use of the meeting times, the development of the grade team leader, the extended day scheduled in the middle of the school day and dedicated to independent reading, the reorganization of our students and classrooms (6th became self-contained and 7th had limited movement), revamped our mission statement by collecting the entire staff’s feedback, implementation of the uniform and policy, the professional development plan last year, and the present staff handbook. Many of these responsibilities have been inherited by the organizational cabinet and the grade team leaders. For further development, these two entities will be combined next year as the organizational cabinet (the grade team leaders, union representation, and student management team will be added to the organizational cabinet).

The instructional cabinet expanded our academic intervention service program to include additional periods of math and ELA for our lowest third and a separate AIS program for our sixth grade students. They were also responsible for collecting school data and sharing it with the departments to develop our plan of taking our school from an F to a B or A. Finally, they pushed forward with solidifying a curriculum for all subject areas. Overall, they continued the planning of how the school could change its focus from Safety and organization to instruction and raising student achievement.

SEE YA’ S.U.R.R.

I am so very proud of all of you. It took dedication, hard work, and strong communication to take our school from a Failing F Undeveloped School to a Successful B Well Developed Institution. We were able to focus on the things we could change and let go of the parts we were unable to do anything about. We stepped up our game and we maintained our efforts toward taking the school to the next level. I am very grateful that I am a part of the J13 community. People ask me sometimes if I have any regrets about my time so far at J13. After years of blood, sweat, and tears, I would have to put it to one. I regret not putting my faith in all of you earlier. Somehow I thought the harder I worked the better we were off. In the end, I needed all of you and, most of all, believe in you. You need to know you were never a failing school in my eyes, just a place that didn’t realize it’s potential. I hope you are as excited as me to make this school the best in our district.

May your preparations meet your vision, your colleagues provide information, and no risk blind you from your mission. Have a great week….

ATTENDANCE FOR THE LAST TWO WEEKS

Monday: No School
Tuesday: 89%
Wednesday: 93%
Thursday: 92%
Friday: 90%
Monday: 89%
Tuesday: 95%
Wednesday: 95%
Thursday: 92%
Friday: 89%

Birthdays:

Theresa Stephens March 6th
Kathy Semenick March 11th
Paul Mezan March 11th
Chinyere Emmanuel March 14th
Cheryl White-Grier March 17th
Daniel Foley March 17th

Quote of the Week

“All personal achievement starts in the mind of the individual. Your personal achievement starts in your mind. the first step is to know exactly what your problem, goal or desire is. If you're not clear about this, then write it down, and rewrite it until the words express precisely what you are after. Every disadvantage has an equivalent advantage - if you'll take the trouble to find it. Learn to do that and you'll kick the stuffing out of adversity every time.”
--W. Clement Stone