Dear JHS 13 Family,
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a restful break and a rewarding holiday. It is always important to take time to be with family and to service our bodies with relaxation and some necessary sleep. Hopefully, there were enough family and/or friends surrounding parents to care for young ones. Everyone needs time. Thank goodness for my in-laws, I was able to sleep in at least one morning. As usual, being away from school, I missed everyone. Its not the same in the morning when there is no one to say “Destination: Excellence!” with. As much as I enjoyed catching up with family and friends, I greatly enjoy being around all of you. Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder.
The best part about getting back is we get to pick up where we left off. We have an exciting second half of the year (Technically, the second half begins on January 17th). We will be closing out the second marking period in two weeks. Just in the month of January, we have several significant events taking place. For starters, we have the 1st Marking period celebration of the Principal’s List, Honor Roll, and Honorable Mention. We will also be bidding farewell (for now) to Mrs. Vargas who will be giving birth some time this month. While we say good-bye to her, we also welcome our newest staff member, Mr. Monte Brown, who will be taking over her program. On January 24th, we will be taking our second promotional assessment. Just like in November, it will provide further validation in June for students in meeting promotional criteria. It is imperative every student is present for this exam. It will be essential evidence for any student to be promoted. Finally, on January 31st, we will be officially launching our Positive Behavior Campaign. Our motto of “Be Responsible, Be Respectful, Be Safe” will be plastered all over the walls. We will be teaming with Jets wide receiver, Plaxico Burress, to kick off the celebration right. He will also be recognizing the 17 most improved Students from the first marking period to the second.
Instructionally, we have three months to prepare for the state exams. By collecting assessment results, we can determine whether or not we are doing enough to move our students. We have committed to a 35% increase in proficient students this year (students scoring a level 3 or 4). For ELA and Math, these targets are very achievable. According to our data, we are behind in reaching those goals in both subjects. With this information, we have to determine what needs to be done to reach our achievable markers. For instance, in early November, we identified two groups of students who had scored poorly on a math unit assessment. We were able to provide additional instructional time for those students so they could continue with the new content but catch up on what they missed. Its efforts like this that will guarantee higher student achievement. City Year, our Regis Interns, and our Test Prep Classes can be further utilized to provide intervention services for students who need to be caught up or to reinforce skills to secure students are on course to reach proficiency. In addition, we are starting our Saturday Academy the last week of January. Although it will be open to all students, there will be a population of students who will be mandated to attend. More information will be sent out in the next few weeks. We will continue to use the data to determine our use of resources and action plans with test prep and shared reading.
On a last note, but not at all less important, winter is upon us. It is vital that we stress the importance of students coming to school. We will need all efforts from all adults (Parents, family members, guardians, teachers, staff, crossing guards, etc…) to get our students to attend. If it’s cold, then we need to bundle our babies up. It should not deter anyone from coming to school. If a child is sick, then lets get him or her to a doctor to make sure the absence is excused. I need to remind parents, calling the school to let us know a child is sick does not make it an excused absence. Although we appreciate the phone call, please make sure the child is brought to the doctor. One day away from school is missed information or missed opportunity to excel. “Two tests! One Dream! To be the best, WE MUST BE A TEAM!”
Yours Truly,
Jacob T. Michelman
Principal
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