Thursday, October 25, 2007

NY Harbor School on WCBS-TV

Check out the video from this morning's special report on NYHS!!

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Summer of Sail Pictures

This year's Summer of Sail was a huge success! Check out the pictures from the trip here.

You will need a Snapfish account to access the pictures.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Watershed Trek Begins

NYHS students and staff have begun their three-week trek from the Catskills all the way to NYC, exploring the city's watersource and learning a lot along the way. Follow their adventures by reading their trip journal.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Small Schools News in the NY Times

Click here to read about the success of the city's small schools in the New York Times.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Graduation Photos!

Harbor Graduation!

Click here to view the photos from New York Harbor School's first ever graduation.

If you have a flickr account, you can login to order prints.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Senior Survey

Attention all graduates:

Click here to complete the NYHS Senior Survey.

Monday, June 18, 2007

This Week 06.18.07

REGENTS WEEK

Monday 6/18
- 9th Grade Global Final 8:30am
- 9th Grade Math A Final 10:00am
- 10th Grade ELA Final 10:00am
- 9th Grade Harbor Final 11:30am
- Incoming 9th Grader Orientation 6:00pm

Tuesday 6/19
- Earth Science Regents 9:15am
- US History Regents 1:15pm

Wednesday 6/20
- Living Environment Regents 9:15am
- Chemistry Regents 1:15pm

Thursday 6/21
- School Leadership Team Meeting 6:00pm

Friday 6/22
- Graduation Rehersal @ South St. Seaport 11:00am

Thanks 06.18.07

Harbor Arts Night: Thank you to Lauren and Sonia to all their students for their great showing on Harbor Arts Night on Governors Island. About 250 people attended the event, including parents, students, and friends and supporters of the Harbor School. The premiere of "The House of O" received great reviews. Odysseus somehow made it back home. The Harbor Arts class photos and paintings were beautiful in the Admiral's House. Congratulations to all the students.

Bushwick Campus Parade: The Academy of Urban Planning, New York Harbor School and Bushwick School for Social Justice combined on Saturday for a lively and positive parade through the community to celebrate the improved graduation rates in the building and demonstrate that "Bushwick is Back." NY Harbor School was represented by several seniors, as well as the cheerleading squad. It was a great day with news coverage by NY1 as well as El Diario. Thank you to Parent Coordinator Daniela Perez for helping to organize the parade.

Clearwater Festival: Ten Harbor School students (Janette Medel, Juana Garcia, Jimmy Sanchez, Alfonso Ventura, Angelina Soto, Heidy Virgil, Jose Melendez, Maritza Garcia, Raphael Laurenceau and Leydi Basilio)and several staff (Roy, Tizoc, Shane, Pia and Ann) represented NY Harbor School at the Clearwater Festival on the Hudson. Students assisted in water safety and ferrying passengers in the water on small boats. Thanks to Roy for coordinating the Harbor representatives.

Updates 06.18.07

Senior Grades: Senior teachers, please make sure to have your grades done on time. Graduation depends on it.

Finals Monday: 9th Grade Finals in Global, Math, and Harbor Science will be given in the morning as well as 10th Grade English. See schedule sent out by Noah.

Regents: Exams continue this week. We need all hands on deck to maintain our students focus on their exams.

Staff Year End Meetings: All staff who have not signed up for a year end meeting with Nate/Jen, please make sure to see Maureen to schedule an appointment.

Graduation Rehearsal: Friday 11am at South Street Seaport Museum, Pier 16.

Monday, June 04, 2007

This Week 06.04.07

WEEK #1

Monday 6/4
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Governor's Island Facility Meeting 3:30pm

Tuesday 6/5
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 1 takes NWEA instead of trip
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport

Wednesday 6/6
- SPECIAL SCHEDULE FOR 10th GRADE
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Harbor Department Meeting 12:15pm
- Staff Meeting 2:30-3:30pm
- Senior Prom?

Thursday 6/7
- Professional Development Day

Friday 6/8
- SPECIAL SCHEDULE FOR 10th GRADE
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Harbor Arts Night on Governor's Island - 4:00pm and 5:15pm ferry

Saturday 6/9
- Boatbuilding with Janette Medel in Harlem 9:00am
- Rowing at Pier 40 with Brendan 11:00am (?)
- Rocking the Boat's semester-end party 12:00pm

Thanks 06.04.07

New York State Marine Educators Association Conference:
Thank you to Roy for organizing the Harbor Corps debut at the annual NYSMEA conference this weekend held at South Street Seaport. Students Mayra Julian, Jennifer Soto, Andrew Hernandez and Kyle Williams did a presentation about the oyster gardening they have been invovled with. See the video link below for more info on oyster gardening.

Updates 06.04.07

Governor's Island Facilities Meeting:
Join us for the next facilities meeting this Monday. We will meet with consultants in Room 412 at 3:30pm. Remeber you do not need any particular expertise on the topic to join in the coversation!

Friday, June 01, 2007

Summer Opportunity: NY Watershed Trek!

NYHS students will be participating in a trip this summer exploring NY's watershed. Click here to read the details!

Oyster Gardening

Click here to view a short clip about our new oyster gardening project!

Monday, May 28, 2007

This Week 05.28.07

WEEK #2

Monday 5/28
- Memorial Day

Tuesday 5/29
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 3 on Lettie (students miss 1st and 2nd period)
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ Governor's Island

Wednesday 5/30
- SOS Meeting 10:30-11:30am
- Harbor Department Meeting 12:15-2:00
- Department Meeting 2:30-3:30
- Cabinet 3:45-4:45
- Hiring Interviews 5:00-7:00pm

Thursday 5/31
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 4 on Lettie (students miss 1st and 2nd period)
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ Governor's Island
- Horseshoe Crab Mating Walk with Roy @ Plum Beach 4:00pm

Friday 6/1
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ Governor's Island
- Lettie Overnight

Saturday 6/2
- Boatbuilding with Janette in Harlem 9:00am
- Rowing with Brendan at Pier 40 11:00am

Thanks 05.28.07

Estuaria: Thank you so much to Cheryl Balsamo for her persistent and tireless work to create our Estuaria and take care of our Turtles in rooms 410 and 416. The creation of the Aquarium Keepers Club has been a great addition to our school, and Cheryl has done this, as well substitute hundreds of classes, and be a great assistant Teacher for our Harbor Science class with Ann and Shane. Cheryl has accepted a position as a 7th grade science teacher at the Urban Assembly School of Arts and Letters in Fort Green, a great new Urban Assembly school. We wish her all the best. -Nate

Teaching Assistants: In addition to Cheryl, other teaching assistants have shown tremendous dedication and hard work in their classes. Ralph Perez has consistently demonstrated his patience and commitment in his work with in Des, Marybelle, Maya, and Lily's classes. English Teacher Beth Heuer has continually added to 10th grade English class, and ESL para Juan Ortiz has also assisted greatly in several classes. Thanks to all for their assistance in helping our students. -Nate

Updates 05.28.07

Testing! Testing! Yes, the Regents are coming. Only 10 Instructional Days until testing begins. Departments please continue to post your Regents prep times.

Wednesday, May 30
Department Meetings 2:30-3:35
Cabinet Meeting 3:40-4:45pm

Earth Science Regents Practical Lab Exam will be taken by the ninth graders in the Lab beginning Monday, June 4. In order for set up to occur, beginning Thursday May 31, the classes that are held in the lab will meet in Room #306 on the third floor. Classes should meet at the Lab and travel to Room 306 together with their teacher.

Lettie G. Howard Overnights for 10th graders continue - June 1st and 2nd.

Saturday boatbuilding with Janette Medel: Meet at 9 AM in front of Bushwick to go to Harlem every Saturday. We are trying to get the boat finished in time for graduation!!

NWEA Interim assessment testing will focus primarily on the ninth grade. Sections 1 and 3 will take their tests 7th and 8th period on June 5 and 12, respectively. Moira is coordinating the testing schedule and use of the computer room.

Special Schedule June 6 and 8. In order to have a dress rehearsal for the Odyssey on June 8, tenth grade will have a special schedule on June 6 and June 8. Students will have their regents classes Global, Math, and Living Environment before being dismissed at 10:30 for the ferry to Governors Island on both days. Lily will send out details to teachers. All other classes will meet as regularly scheduled. We will have an early dismissal at 2:40 on June 8 for all those attending to make a 4pm Ferry for Harbor Arts Night. There will be 5:15 ferry as well.

Staff reminder: we need all hands on deck for all Fridays until the end of the year, given the Lettie Overnights.

Graduation: June 25 at 6pm on Pier 16 at South Street Seaport Museum. This promises to be one of the great nights in the history of our school. Please support all senior potential graduates as they work to finish all of their necessary requirements.

Summer School: All teachers who are interested in teaching summer school (Friday, July 20 - Friday, August 17) please email Nate and Mr. Dye (vdye@schools.nyc.gov) as soon as possible! Summer school will take place in the Bushwick Campus Annex 8:30-3:00 for four weeks. More information will be forthcoming for students soon.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

This Week 05.21.07

WEEK #1

Monday 5/21
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Girls Soccer Game @ Bushwick Campus 4:00pm
- Personnel Committee Interviews

Tuesday 5/22
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 1 on Lettie (students miss 1st and 2nd period)
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport

Wednesday 5/23
- Harbor Department Meeting 12:15pm
- Staff Meeting 2:30-3:00pm
- Grade Team Kid Talk 3:00-3:30pm
- Advisory Team Kid Talk 3:35-4:15pm
- College Conference @ Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice 4:00pm
- Girls Soccer Game @ Bushwick Campus 4:00pm

Thursday 5/24
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 2 on Lettie (students miss 1st and 2nd period)
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Make-up SLT Meeting 6:00pm

Friday 5/25
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Lettie Overnight - students meet before school at Bushwick

Saturday 5/26
- Rowing at Pier 40 with Brendan 11:00am (?)

Thanks 05.21.07

Staff Appreciation Night: Thank you to Jen and Murray for their work in making our dinner at Bubby's a success. The movie of the student appreciation said it all: when we teach we affect students in ways we don't even know. Congratulations to our NY Harbor School Lifetime Crew Members. We have a great staff and we felt how great it is on that night. -Nate

Updates 05.21.07

Regents are coming! (15 instructional days!!). Departments please post your Regents prep times.

Lettie G. Howard Overnights continue on May 25-26

Staff reminder: We need all hands on deck for all Fridays until the end of the year, given the Lettie Overnights.

Graduation: June 25 at 6pm on Pier 16 at South Street Seaport Museum. This promises to be one of the great nights in the history of our school. Please support all senior potential graduates as they work to finish all of their necessary requirements.

Summer School: All teachers who are interested in teaching summer school (dates Friday, July 20- Friday, August 17) please email Nate AND Mr. Dye (vdye@schools.nyc.gov ) as soon as possible. Summer school will take place in the Bushwick Campus Annex 8:30-3:00 for four weeks. More information will be forthcoming for students soon.

Jerry Woolman Lost Coast Jerry Brown is finishing up his semester in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Since we last saw him he has helped build a clinic in Mexico, been hiking in the Pacific Northwest and met Utah Phillips in his English class. He will be returning to New York on May 27th.

Internships: Please click here to check out Sam's Blog - there's a lot of great information about the seniors in their internships that he has been updating this spring. -Nate

Monday, May 14, 2007

Lettie G Howard 05.14.07


05.08.07 021
Originally uploaded by Harbor Science.
The ninth graders will have day sails on the Lettie every Tuesday and Thursday in May. Students will be learning basic sail and line handling. Here Widelyn Laporte handled the dock line as we left the dock and is coiling it down. In addition, students will continue their water quality testing and learning more about the effects of sewage on the Harbor.

The tenth graders are participating in overnight sails aboard the Lettie as part of their grade for Marine Technology. Activities include more advanced sail training and team building activities. No doubt there will be plenty of photos to share!

This Week 05.14.07

WEEK #2

Monday 5/14
- CTE Forum at UFT 8:00am
- NYSESLAT Make-ups
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Girls Soccer Game 4:00pm

Tuesday 5/15
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 3 on Lettie (students miss 1st and 2nd period)
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport

Wednesday 5/16
- Marine Science Aquarium Trip 9:00am
- Harbor Humanities Radio Golf Trip 12:00pm
- Whole Staff Meeting 2:30-3:30
- Cabinet 3:45-4:45
- Teacher Appreciation Night 6:00pm

Thursday 5/17
- Working Paper Physicals in Room 134
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 4 on Lettie (students miss 1st and 2nd period)
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- SLT Meeting 6:00pm

Friday 5/18
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Lettie Overnight

Saturday 5/19
- Aquarium Keepers Trip to Aquarium 10:00am
- Rowing at Pier 40 with Brendan 11:00am

Sunday 5/20
- Shad Fest 12:00-5:00pm

Thanks 05.14.07


496831389_9875849285_m
Originally uploaded by Harbor Science.
BAM Poetry - Thanks to Lauren and Beth and all the students that participated in the BAM Poetry event. As always, the Harbor School students did us proud - Rep 'dem waves! (In the picture to the right, Matthew Nunez and Nadege Laporte do a group poem.)


Parent Teacher conferences: Thank you to all teachers and staff for making Open School Night on May 9 a success. We had approximately 80 parents meeting with students in quality conversations, which was an improvement from our March Parent night.

Testing: Thank to all involved in Testing last week. Thank you to Melissa J. and Damaris for their work on the ELA component re-testing. Thank you to Marybelle and Alan for making the NYSESLAT happen. Thank you to Lily and Lauren and other proctors for making the AP Calculus and AP English exams happen. Thank you to Noah, Moira, and Marybelle for coordinating the testing schedule.

Updates 05.14.07

Staff reminder: We need all hands on deck for all Fridays until the end of the year, given the Lettie Overnights

Rowing: We had an awesome row on on Saturday with three rowers from NYHS and a 65 year-old Argentinian rower. We met the Lettie overnighters and met the Water Taxi that Pookie and Kereem were working on. We are on for next Sat @ 1100 AM. All staff invited to volunteer. This is open youth rowing. -Brendan

Summer School 2007: As an empowerment school, we have the right to adapt summer school schedules to fit our needs. In the summer of 2007, NYHS will be partnering with other schools in the campus to offer full day summer school July 20 to August 17. Students can enroll in up to 2 classes. More information will be forthcoming. All teachers who are interested in teaching summer school please email Nate as soon as possible. Summer school will take place in the Bushwick Campus Annex 8:30-3:00 for four weeks.

New parent coordinator starts this week! Please welcome Daniela Perez, who has moved from Los Angeles to work for the New York Harbor School.

Graduation June 25 at 6pm on Pier 16 at South Street Seaport Museum. This promises to be one of the great nights in the history of our school. Please support all senior potential graduates as they work to finish all of their necessary requirements.

Val, Sal and MC Please congratulate Yoscar Ogando and Rosario Figueroa, our class of 2007 valedictorian and salutatorian respectively. They will be speaking at graduation. Student Council president Danny E. Lopez will be the MC.

Nate and Jen at programming retreat Tuesday afternoon Nate, Jen, Lily and Murray will be meeting off campus to assess programming possibilities given our 2007-08 budgets. After 1:30 p.m., Des and Ali will be in charge in case of emergency.

Staff Appreciation Dinner begins promptly at 6:00 on Wednesday (It’s a sit down dinner). After the meal, there will be some very special presentations, and also a chance to honor colleagues who are leaving at the end of the school year. Don’t miss it!

Friday, May 11, 2007

Harbor Humanities Movie!

http://newyorkharborschool.org/debate.mov is a podcast of a movie made by Lauren about the debate about the NY Waterfront. Or you can click on "debate" at newyorkharborschool.org on the Quicklinks menu. It takes a minute to open, because it's 63 megs, but worth the wait. Great job, Lauren and students!
And special thanks to Pia for being the Harbor School webmaster.

Monday, May 07, 2007

This Week 05.07.07

WEEK #1
ELA Component ReTesting

Monday 5/7
- GI Facility Meeting 3:30pm
- Girls Soccer Game @ Bard High School 4:00pm
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport

Tuesday 5/8
- NYSESLAT Listening Exam 8:49am
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 1 on Lettie (students miss 1st and 2nd period)
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- BAM Poetry Night 6:00pm

Wednesday 5/9
- AP Calculus Exam 9:00am
- Whole Staff Meeting 2:30-3:00pm
- Co-Planning Meeting 3:00-4:15pm
- Open School Night 6:00-8:00pm

Thursday 5/10
- AP English Exam
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 2 on Lettie (students miss 1st and 2nd period)
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport

Friday 5/11
- NYSESLAT Make-ups
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Girls Soccer Game @ Bushwick 4:00pm
- Lettie Overnight

Updates 05.07.07

Parent Teacher Night is Wednesday, May 9, from 6pm to 7:30 in the Cafeteria. Advisors, make sure to call all your advisees' parents. Please make every effort to have parents come in to discuss the second marking period.

Working Papers: Please be advised that the doctor is scheduled to do working paper physicals on Thursday May 17th 2007 and Thursday June 14th 2007 for all students interested. Students must have the consent form filled out and signed by a parent or guardian prior to the date in order to see the doctor. Please inform any student interested to register in the Health Office rm134. Thank you.

2007-08 coverage coordinator: Please let Jen and Nate know if you’re interested in the coverage coordinator position for the 2007-08 school year. You will be compensated with per session for your time (at least an hour a school day) PLUS you get a cell phone. We would like to identify the person this year so that they can get trained.

Hiring Update: Abbey Lewis, a special education teacher with four years of experience (who comes highly recommended by a lot of people including Des), and who is an avid sailor, has happily accepted a position at our school for the fall. We’re thrilled to have her.

More Hiring update: Please help us recruit excellent social studies candidates. We’re generally getting a very strong response to our job postings, but we need your help getting more excellent social studies applicants. Please help us get the word out there. Applicants should email their resume and cover letter to Jen at jostrow4@schools.nyc.gov, and mention in the cover letter if they know a staff member.

BAM CAFE SPOKEN WORD POETRY SHOW - 10th graders Tuesday, May 8th 6:00-8:30 p.m. Students will be leaving with Lauren after school @ 3:15 to go to BAM. Several of our students are performing in the show later that evening. Faculty attendance would be appreciated. In order to accommodate 10th graders w/ Marine Tech, I am going to show portions of "The Odyssey" in the auditorium after the early session gets out until 3:15 when I will take the whole crew over. If other teachers would like to come with me, please let me know, I'd love it!

ELA Component ReTesting - Monday-Friday @ 9. a.m.-9:50 a.m. Students must report to testing rooms @ 8:45. Help from advisors and staff needed to get kids to the testing centers on time. Tests are 50 minutes long and students must take all 5 days of the tests in order to get credit. We need whole school support.

AP ENGLISH EXAM - Thursday @ 8:00 in the library (back room). 3 hour test. Please wish our AP students luck.

Manhattan Theater Club - Congrats to Daniel E. Lopez, Bryan Lopez, Jennifer Soto & Estefany Frias who all participated in a ten week after school play writing class in conjunction with the Manhattan Theater Club. Their plays were read by professional actors in midtown last Tuesday and Friday nights and were very well received. This is the third year that Harbor students have participated in the program and as Jennifer Soto said herself, "I don't know where I'd be without all of the opportunities that Harbor has provided me." Congrats to the students for taking this project on.

ESL Retreat - On Saturday several teachers met to begin a discussion of Harbor School's ESL program, and begin planning for the future. Overall the participants felt the meeting was successful and notes and information on the action plan will be sent out to the entire staff. Many thanks to all in attendance for their hard work in making this retreat happen. Attending the retreat at the Seaport Inn downtown were Shirley, Shaun, Marybelle, Alan, Lauren, Nate, Nasiha, and Moira (via phone).

SAT - Congratulations to Juniors for taking the SAT on Saturday. Several more juniors will take it in June and many juniors will be taking the SAT IIs in June as well. Thank you to 11th grade advisors and to Princeton Review teachers for helping our students prepare for this important exam.

College Summit - Congratulations to the 18 Juniors who will travel to Yale University this summer for a three day training from College Summit. This program prepares students for the college application process. Next Year's Senior advisors will also be going for training in Atlanta, GA.

Senior Graduation Song - Seniors have begun their rehearsals for their graduation song "I'm Gonna Miss You" which was written by the Senior Class in collaboration with music teacher Janice Lowe. The rehearsal was assisted by singers Nicole and Brian, ans senior advisors. The first rehearsal sounded surprisingly good, and our first graduation on June 25 at the South Street Seaport Museum on Pier 16 promises to be an amazing event.

The first Lettie 10th Grade Overnight Sail was a very successful one. According to chaperones Shane and Tizoc all students were strong crew members and had a great sail with beautiful weather.

Monday, April 30, 2007

Fun June Events

Wednesday, June 6: Senior Prom

Thursday, June 7: Planned Professional Development Day aboard Lettie G. Howard. May also include rehearsals and planning for Harbor Arts day on Governors Island. FYI: part of day will include afternoon session for Nate or Jen and Lead Teachers in Math and English with all Urban Assembly schools to discuss College Knowledge tasks to be a part of next year's curriculum. This meeting will take place at Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction at 50th St. and 10th Ave. in Manhattan. More details forthcoming soon.

Friday, June 8: Harbor Arts Day on Governors Island. World premiere of "The Odyssey" by the the Harbor Humanities class, and art show by Harbor Arts class. Parents invited.

Tuesday, June 12: Last Day of Classes

Tuesday, June 12: Senior Banquet

Saturday, June 16: Bushwick Campus Graduation Parade and celebration. All graduates from New York Harbor School, Academy of Urban Planning, and Bushwick School for Social Justice will be parading.

Saturday, June 16: Clearwater Festival

Monday, June 25: Graduation

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Thanks 04.30.07

It was a very busy week and weekend at New York Harbor School. Read below for updates on the Social Justice Math Conference, Staff Sail, Harbor Basketball, ELL Parent Conference, and SCUBA class, and more!

Student college acceptance trips continued as Jennifer L., Daniel L., Yoscar, and Luz all traveled to Ithaca College to check out the school gain further information on their full scholarships. Thank you to Melissa Franco for taking an assortment of seniors to the bus at 5:00am on Monday morning to go to Ithica College!

Thank you to teacher/ESL Coordinator Marybelle Marrero-Colón for her organization of our building wide ESL Conference for Parents. The conference took place on Saturday with workshops and encouragement for parental involvement. Parents from AUP, BSSJ, and Harbor attended. Alan also was a tremendous help, along with AP Janet Miranda from AUP, who together with Marybelle gave parents an overview of the NYSESLAT exam and the ELA Regents. Student Vanessa M. also performed her spoken word during the lunchtime presentation.

Congratulations and thank you to Ralph Perez , Noah Heller and the Harbor School Basketball team for their undefeated Saturday in an Urban Assembly Round Robin Tournament. NYHS defeated the hosts Bronx School of Law, Government and Justice 84-72, and also defeated the Urban Assembly Academy of Music and Art 48-34. Players included Shamel, Daquan, Devon, Divine, John G., Kevin H., Todd, and José M. This is a first step towards a possible developmental team in the PSAL when our school moves to Governors Island.

Thanks to Shaun Strobel for his organization of our SCUBA training class on weekends for staff and students. This week's training contingent in the pool included staff members Shaun, Shirley, Juan, and Shane, as well as students Asha, Dwayne, Claude, and Angel T. The certification class is hard work, but those involved seemed very enthusiastic.

Thanks to Captain Jonathan Kabak and the members of the Lettie G. Howard crew for hosting our NYHS staff overnight sail about Lettie. Friday night was cloudy after the heavy rains, but Saturday dawned beautifully. Staff members Maya, Sonjah, Awilda, Roy, Rick, Tizoc, Nasiha, and Sonia went aloft (almost all), raised sail, and even got a private tour of the Merchant Marine Academy in Kingspoint, NY. It was a great overnight sail.

Thank you to Math teacher Noah Heller for inviting teachers from all over the country to visit our school Friday April 27, as part of the Math and Social Justice conference taking place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Teachers from Boston, L.A., Berkeley, and even Queens (F.K. Lane H.S.) visited Harbor math classes and discussed ways of making math more accessible and powerful for students.

Updates 04.30.07

Please be advised that the doctor is scheduled to do working paper physicals on Thursday May 17th 2007 and Thursday June 14th 2007 for all students interested. Students must have the consent form filled out and signed by a parent or guardian prior to the date in order to see the doctor. Please inform any student interested to register in the Health Office rm134. Thank you.

This Week 04.30.07

WEEK #2

Monday 4/30
- NYSESLAT Testing continues
- Seniors take WISE financial litercay cert test thru Friday with Sam
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Governors Island Facility Meeting with Murray and Halcrow Marine Engineering
consultant in Room 412 @ 3:30pm
- Hiring Interviews 4:00-7:00pm

Tuesday 5/1
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 3 @ Gowanus Canal
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport

Wednesday 5/2
- OPEN Harbor Dept/CTE Meeting 12:15-2:15
- Grades Due to Lily 3:00pm
- Department Meetings 2:30-3:35
- Cabinet meeting 3:40-4:45
- Girls' Soccer Game @ Harry Van Arsdale 4:00pm

Thursday 5/3
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 4 @ Gowanus Canal
- Nate OUT ALL DAY with Harbor Science Class
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport

Friday 5/4
- 9th Grade CTT and Special Ed trip to Jewish Heritage Museum
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- New York Sun Works Barge Launch
- Lettie Student Overnight (Tizoc & Shane)

Saturday 5/5
- All Juniors taking SAT
- ESL Planning Retreat at Best Western Seaport
- Youth Coxswain Training with Brendan 9:00am-4:00pm

Sunday, April 22, 2007

This Week 04.23.07

WEEK #1

Monday 4/23
- Self-contained in the Field Meeting 7:45am
- NYSESLAT Testing beings
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport

Tuesday 4/24
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 1 @ Gowanus Canal
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- UFT Delegat Meeting @ UFT Headquarters 4:15pm

Wednesday 4/25
- OPEN Harbor Dept/CTE Meeting 12:15-2:15
- Staff Meeting 2:30-3:00 pm Grade Team Meeting then Advisory Team Meetings

Thursday 4/26
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 2 @ Gowanus Canal
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Girls' Soccer Game @ School of the Future 4:00pm
- SLT Meeting 6:00pm

Friday 4/27
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- END OF 2nd MARKING PERIOD
- Girls' Soccer Game @ Bushwick 4:00pm
- Lettie Staff Overnight!

Saturday 4/28
- Staff SCUBA 10:30am-3:30pm
- Cheerleading Trip to Six Flags

Updates 04.23.07

Bushwick Campus Graduation Parade: Will take place Saturday, June 16 at 11am. We expect all graduating seniors from NY Harbor School, Academy of Urban Planning, and the Bushwick School for Social Justice will march around the school's block and celebrate their graduation together with their families. It will be means to mark the presence and success of the new schools in the Bushwick Campus.

College Acceptance Trips: Congratulations to students Octavia M. and Melissa F. for their successful visit to SUNY Canton and SUNY Potsdam, and to Luz O. for her trip to Skidmore College. We look forward to their possible matriculation at those schools. Thank you in advance to all involved in the Ithaca College trip this weekend for Daniel L., Jennifer L., Luz O., and Yoscar O. and to the intrepid staff memeber who will meet them at 5:00am to escort them to the bus station!

Sunday, April 15, 2007

This Week 04.16.07

WEEK #2

Monday 4/16
- Pilar Roja Performance/trip 8:49am
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport

Tuesday 4/17
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 3 @ Newtown Creek
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Girls' Soccer Game @ Bushwick 4:00pm

Wednesday 4/18
- SOS Curriculum Meeting 10:30-11:30
- OPEN Harbor Dept/CTE Meeting 12:15-2:15
- Staff Meeting 2:30-3:35 Meeting will focus primarily on Special Education and updating IEPs. Teachers, please bring all copies of IEPs on students that you teach.
- Cabinet Meeting 3:45-4:45

Thursday 4/19
- Graduation Meeting 9:00-9:20
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 4 @ Newtown Creek
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Girls' Soccer Game @ Bushwick 4:00pm
- SLT Meeting 6:00pm

Friday 4/20
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- BAM performance/trip 10:30am

Saturday 4/21
- Farm to Cafeteria Conference 8:30am-6:00pm
- Staff SCUBA 10:30am-3:30pm

Thanks 04.16.07

College Shout-Outs: Thank you to Ali and Nicole, and all senior advisors (Melissa, Ann, Marybelle, Awilda, Noah, and Nicole) for their hard work in helping our students begin to achieve their college dreams. So far 28 seniors have been accepted to college and we expect CUNY acceptances soon. Of those seniors, several have received full four year scholarships, including full HEOP or EOP scholarships to schools such as Cornell U., SUNY Stonybrook, Skidmore, Pratt Institute, and Ithaca College. The total scholarship money exceeds $1.5 million dollars! We are extremely proud of these students' accomplishments and look forward to supporting their college careers. Congratulations.

Yearbook: Thank you to Sonjah and her crew for her extremely hard work on the 2007 Yearbook. I know that it will look great and her hard work will pay off with a great book. Congratulations!

Hiring Open House: Thank you to Jen for the successful hiring open house on Friday. More than 20 prospective teachers in several subjects attended and were provided an excellent overview of the school by Nate, Murray, Kima, Des, and students Monique, Kayla, and Mayra. Thanks to all teachers who hosted visits by groups of teachers.

Parent Coordinator: Thank you to the personnel committee and parents for their hard work and dedication in hiring a Parent Coordinator. We are very excited to have Daniela start with us in May and look forward to her contributions to our community.

Harbor Basketball Team: Thank you to Ralph and Noah for working with our students to form a Harbor School basketball team to compete in a tournament of Urban Assembly teams to be held in the Bronx this weekend, April 20 and 21.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

College Updates 04.16.07

College Conference: On May 23rd (4pm-8pm), Urban Assembly will be hosting a free conference for all college bound seniors at the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice (244 East 163rd Street (4, B, D, to 161st/Yankee Stadium). This will be a great opportunity for seniors and their parents to meet with other Urban Assembly students who will be attending some of the same colleges of our seniors in the fall. There will be college students and staff addressing proper preparation for some of the challenges our students may face going into their first year of college. It promises to be a great event.

Updates 04.16.07

Pilar Rioja Performance: Lydia will be taking certain students from her 2nd and 4th period class on a field trip monday April 16th after 2nd period. They all know they are responsible for speaking with their teachers in regards to their abscence and missed work. For those who have 1st and 2nd period they also know they need to attend those classes as well.

Attendance: The three day week did not help our attendance, as we begin April at approximately 80%. Advisors, if your advisees were absent more than two days in a row, we need you to follow up and provide any information obtained to Belia in the main office. Our weekly attendance meeting will take place Monday at 10:30am.

Summer Opportunities Survey: Roy has prepared a survey of summer opportunities that will be filled out in Advisory this week. Advisors, please have all students fill out a survey, collect, and return to Roy. It is important for us to identify and recruit students for many of the programs we have this summer, including Summer of Sail and a new residential camp program at SUNY Maritime.

2nd Marking Period: There are only two weeks left in the 2nd marking period, which ends on 4/27. Teachers, please make sure your mygradebook.com accounts are up to date. Open School Night will be Wednesday, May 9, from 6-7:30pm.

Sports: All players on Bushwick Campus PSAL teams must provide teachers with a schedule of their games, and on game day, must provide a pass to leave at 2:15pm for travel to games. Marvin is the girls soccer coach and has sent around this information to our staff. We will make sure that baseball does the same.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

College Update 04.11.07

In the spirit of college awareness and preparation, Nicole would like to plan a series of activities for all students during the week of May 7th. This will be our official college week. The goal is to make this an annual event where students can learn more about college and everything it has to offer. Here is the proposed plan for this year.

Monday 5/7 - Represent Your Alma Mater Day - Teachers and staff will wear t-shirts, caps, etc representing the colleges they went to. Advisors across all grades will speak about their college experiences during advisory.

Tuesday 5/8 - SUNY Maritime Presentation during advisory for 9th graders

Wedenesday 5/9 - Skidmore College Presentation during advisory for 10th graders

Thursday 5/10 - Panel discussion with seniors and current college students for 11th graders during advisory

Friday 5/11 - Making it Count - College Presentation for seniors during advisory

Updates 04.11.07

Parent Coordinator - We’re thrilled to announce the hire of a new parent coordinator, Daniela Perez, of Compton, California. Daniela has been serving as the office manager of Excel Charter Academy, a brand new school in Los Angeles, and will start work at NYHS the week of May 14, 2007, upon completion of a BA in English education at California State Northridge and a move to NYC. If you know of anyone needing a roommate or of an affordable apartment, Daniela would really appreciate talking to you.

Teacher Recruiting - On Friday, April 13, from 1-3 p.m. we will have a recruiting event for a select group of applicants for teaching positions at NYHS in the fall. Please be prepared (thanks in advance) to have groups of applicants dropping by your classes to observe for a few minutes as part of a tour. Also, over the next month or so, Jen will be visiting classes with a variety of applicants at other times (particularly in Special Education, so CTT and self contained classes should expect frequent visits). Thanks very much for your cooperation. We’ll try to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Bushwick Campus Girls Soccer Team - began Wedesday 3/28/07. The majority of the team are Harbor students: Asha Armstrong, Nadege Laporte, Maria Naula, Leydia Basicillo, Abby Scott, Estaphanie Reyes, Evelyn Cornel and Kiara Pena. The team is looking good, pratice is going well, we have 12 eligible girls and Tzoc is helping me with pratice. Our next game is on Thur. 4/12/07.

Home Stretch - We are entering the final stretch of the school year. The Regents begin June 13, in nine weeks, or 43 instructional days. 2nd marking period ends in two and a half weeks on April 27, and grades are due May 2. Parent Teacher night will be Wednesday, May 9. Please check the Harbor News Calendar for many additional important dates.

Spring Academy - Thank you to Nasiha and teachers from AUP and BSSJ for their hard work during Spring Academy. 17 seniors recovered needed credit by completing their projects, 3 failed, and their was one incomplete with a medical excuse. Information has been sent to senior advisors.

Senior Trip Canceled - Because only 16 students of a required 50 brought in their deposit for the senior trip to Hershey Park, the trip has been canceled. Anyone with questions about this decision can see Nate.

Poetry - As part of a Teacher’s and Writers project, Gannet News service will display some our students’ poetry from last semester’s music class.

Biodiesel - Sam has gotten some great publicity for the biodiesel program lately - one of the articles is below.

http://www.brooklyndowntownstar.com/StoryDisplay.asp?PID=4&NewsStoryID=5516

This Week 04.11.07

WEEK #1
Wednesday 4/11
- Follow a Week #1 Wed, Thurs, Fri Schedule (for 9th grade)
- Short Staff Meeting 2:30-3:00
- Co-Planning Time 3:00-4:15

Thursday 4/12
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 2 @ Bronx River
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts Section 3 @ Seaport

Friday 4/13
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts Section 4 @ Seaport
- New Teacher Recruiting Event from 1-3 p.m. in Room 410

The second marking period ends April 27 and Grades will be due Wednesday May 2

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Thanks 03.26.07

Biodiesel Club: Sam and his students were featured in a short but very descriptive article. Click here to read all about it in the NY Post!

Washington DC Trip: Thank you to Sam for organizing 14 Seniors on their trip to Washington, D.C. for a Climate Change Conference for a day of meaningful conversation and activism. Students visited Senators Schumer and Clinton's offices, and also spent an hour with Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, who was very inspirational and extremely generous with her time. It was a great experience for seniors in the government class.

Community Garden Conference: Thank you to Roy for bringing several Harbor Corps members to an all day Community Garden Conference in the Bronx on Saturday.

School Quality Review: Thank you to the entire staff and students for work and focus during the School Quality Review this past week. Particular thanks to Des and Dorothy for their work to take care of several situations that occurred this past week. Also thanks to Jen and all the teachers who met with our reviewer, Mr. Peter Lewis. We obviously have many things to work on, but it was good to know that we are a "proficient" school.

Open School Event: Thank you to all staff who worked Open School Night. It was a relatively low turn out and there are many factors that went into that, but many staff reported that the conversations that did take place seemed very profitable. Still, it is clear that we must continue to work on our outreach for these important opportunities to communicate with parents.

Senior Activities

Senior Trip: (Tentative) May 18, 2007 Overnight trip to Philly and Hershey Park

Senior Prom: June 6, 2007 6:30-9:30 aboard The Temptress chartered by Marco Polo Tours.

Senior Banquet: On Tuesday, June 12 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM we will have a Senior Banquet at Flor de Lis an event hall on Cypress Ave in Ridgewood. All staff are invited, but no staff guests. All seniors are invited, but no family members or guests. This pre-graduation celebration will allow each 12th grade advisory to create presentations for the ceremony. For example: slide show, play, awards, etc. Please mark your calendars because this event promises to be very memorable!!

Graduation: June 25, 2007 6:00-8:00 @ South Street Seaport

Updates 03.26.07

MAP Trip to Cape Cod: It has been a tradition for the Harbor School to invite students, either as part of the Maritime Adventure Program (MAP), or Harbor Corps on a 4-5 day trip to a retired lifeboat station on the eastern shore of Cape Cod. We have 4 days reserved for April 1-4. The trips usually involve night hikes, rowing, museum and Coast Guard air base station visits, bonfires on the beach, haunted tours of lighthouses, and many numerous team building activities. Tizoc is looking for volunteers that may be interested in chaperoning and helping plan this trip. If anyone is interested, please contact him asap!

Pilar Rioja Performance: On April 16th Lydia will be taking certain 11th and 12th graders to see Pilar Rioja (a famous flamengo dancer) after 2nd period. See Lydia’s email for a list of students.

Radio Golf Performance: As part of Harbor Humanities, the 10th grade will be going to see August Wilson’s Radio Golf. Unfortunately, as we work with the Theater Development Fund to get free tickets and teaching artists, we do not get to choose the date. So, we will take the entire 10th grade to see the show on Wednesday, May 16th. The show begins @ 2 p.m. We will leave as soon as students finish their lunches around 12.
Radio Golf
Wednesday, May 16th, 2:00 pm
The Cort Theater
138 W. 48th Street (between 6th and 7th Aves)

Free Vision Screening for Students: ATTENTION 10th GRADE TEACHERS & ADVISORS! In the upcoming weeks Kerron Desir, the Bushwick Campus health aide, has arranged for free vision screening for all 10th graders, starting Wednesday, March 28. Students will be given passes (through their advisors) to go to his office for their screening. Those who need glasses will be assisted in procuring them at a free or reduced cost through several organizations he works with. Corrected vision can have a dramatic impact on student achievement. Thank you for your support and cooperation.

Parent Coordinator Update: We have received several new strong resumes for Parent Coordinator and will be conducting interviews with strong candidates on Wednesday evening. For more information see Jen.

Staff SCUBA: With a pool back in service and the weather sure to warm (eventually) its time to think Scuba. Please contact Shaun if you are interested.
SATURDAY APRIL 14, 10 AM Chapter 1 & 2 quizzes and pool session
SATURDAY APRIL 21, 10 AM Chapter 3 & 4 quizzes and pool session
SATURDAY APRIL 28, 10 AM Final exam and Pool Session
SATURDAY-SUNDAY MAY 26-27 Open Water training dives and student scuba training. Dutch Spring, Bethlehem Penn. 1.5 hrs drive. Camping trip for students and willing staff. Others may choose to make the return trip each day rather than stay over.

This Week 03.26.07

WEEK #1

Monday 3/26
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- New Visions Hiring Fair 5:00

Tuesday 3/27
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 1 @ Newtown Creek
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport

Wednesday 3/28
- OPEN Mission/CTE Meeting 12:15-2:15
- Short Staff Meeting 2:30- 2:50
- Grade Team/Kid Talk Meetings 2:50-4:15

Thursday 3/29
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 2 @ Newtown Creek
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport

Friday 3/30
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Happy April Break!

AFTER BREAK
Wednesday 4/11
- Follow a Week #1 Wed, Thurs, Fri Schedule (for 9th grade)
- Short Staff Meeting 2:30-3:00
- Co-Planning Time 3:00-4:15

Thursday 4/12
- 9th Grade Harbor Science Section 2 @ Bronx River

The second marking period ends April 27 and Grades will be due Wednesday May 2.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Updates 03.19.07

Summer of Sail: Registration for Sailing aboard the Lettie G. Howard is open and ongoing. Tell all students that if thney are interested, they must submit an application and a deposit to hold a space. Applications can be picked up from Dorothy or Jen.

Summer Opportunities Fair is Coming: Date TBA. Sailing, Internships, Study Opportunities, Jobs and more. Date TBA.

Biodiesel Club Meeting: This Monday and Every Monday, afterschool, room 412. We have 600 gallons of grease to process and many biodiesel community members who would like to pick up fuel -- that means lots of work for the next three months, come one come all!

Sunday, March 18, 2007

This Week 03.19.07

Week #2

Monday 3/19 (Day 6 - 2nd Monday)
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport

Tuesday 3/20
- 9th Grade Harbor Science takes Section 3 to the Bronx River
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Senior Civics Class trip to Washington DC. We're participating in a day of action around climate change, including a two hour round table discussion session with federal representatives from districts 10 and 11. Twelve Harbor Students will present the views of urban youth on environmental issues and attempt to influence public policy.

- SQR with Evaluator Peter Lewis (Very Tentative Schedule - may be modified
--(several meetings are scheduled to take place in the back room of the library)
--10 am Arrival of Mr. Lewis
--10-11:30 meet with Principal, AP and Program Director to review Self Evaluation
--11:30-12:30 est. Working lunch with several staff members (Nate/Jen to arrange)
--12:30-1:30 Classroom visits
--1:30-2:30 Review "Case study" of student work (prepared by Nate)
--2:45-3:30 Meet with group of parents (arranged by Jen)
--3:30-4:00 quick debrief with Nate, prep and finalize Wednesday schedule

Wednesday 3/21
- SQR Continues
--8:00-9:00 Meet (breakfast) with Cabinet (those Cabinet members available
--9:00-10:00 Meet with Students
--10:00-11:30 Go over school data with Nate, Jen, and Murray
--11:30-1:00 Debrief and provide feedback and initial recommendations to Nate, Jen and Murray and MAK Mitchell from Urban Assembly.
--1pm departure

- OPEN Mission/CTE Meeting 12:15-2:15
- Whole Staff Meeting 2:30-3:35
- Cabinet Meeting 3:45-4:45

Thursday 3/22
- 9th Grade Harbor Science takes Section 4 to the Bronx River
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts @ South Street Seaport
- Staff Dinner 4:45
- Senior Meeting with parents 5:30
- Open School Night in Cafeteria 6-8pm

Friday 3/23 (Half Day Schedule - will be posted)
- 25 Minute for all Periods with 2 minutes passing time
- Follow Friday Schedule Day 10

--1st Period 8-8:25
--2nd Period 8:27-8:52
--3rd Period 8:54-9:19
--4th Period 9:21-9:46
--5th Period 9:48-10:13
--6th Period 10:15-10:40
--7th Period 10:42-11:07
--8th Period 11:09-11:34 Dismissal
--9th Period 11:36-12:02 Dismissal
(students will go to lunch room during their scheduled lunch period)

- Open School Afternoon 1-3pm on 4th Floor

Thank Yous 03.19.07

National Honor Society: Thank you to Marybelle, Kima, Lauren and the officers of the National Honor Society for their powerful ceremony inducting 18 new NHS members on Friday night. The ceremony took place on an ice-stormy night at the Melville Gallery at the South Street Seaport Musuem. Teacher Noah Heller was also inducted as the Teacher of the Year by the NHS students. Congratulations to all student inductees and to Noah.

New York Philharmonic: Thank you Sonia for organizing the trip to the symphony for students on Wednesday night.

Color Purple: Thank you to Melissa, for organizing the trip for students to the see the Color Purple on Broadway last Wednesday afternoon.

NY Aquarium: Thank you to Roy for organizing the follow up marine science program at the New York Aquarium on Wednesday 3/14 and 3/28. 15 students are taking part in the program at the Aquarium in Coney Island.

Harbor Corps: Thank you to Murray and Roy for their ongoing work with the Harbor Corps and their developing oyster gardens.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Updates 03.12.07

TEACHERS CHOICE: IS DUE ON MARCH 15TH. PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOUR FORMS ARE FILLED OUT COMPLETELY, SIGNED AND YOUR RECEIPTS ARE ALL ATTACHED. BRING YOUR FORMS WITH THE ATTACHMENTS STAPLED TO MY OFFICE (409) TEACHER’S CHOICE PURCHASING AND ACCOUNTABILITY GUIDELINES CATALOG AS WELL AS ALL RELEVANT FORMS, INCLUDING THE “STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND ACCOUNTABILITY FORM” MAY BE ACCESSED BY ENTERING THE URL BELOW. WWW.NYCENET.EDU/OPM/OPM/CATALOG

College Knowledge Author David Conley: will visit our school on Tuesday afternoon, (3/13) and spend most of his time in classes 7th and 8th periods. This is an important visit for our school and Urban Assembly as we work towards college readiness for our students. The NWEA interim assessments are part of our gauging of our students' development. David Conley and his team (including Melissa and Noah) are working with UA to develop other class assignments that will help us develop the skills to ready our students for success in college. His visit will be an initial snapshot of where we are in this process.


National Honor Society Induction Ceremony: Friday 3/16 at South Street Seaport Museum. This is another of our students' great moments and all staff members are invited. (See Kima for details).


School Quality Review: is coming on March 20-21. Please know that this visit is an important part of our "report card" for next year. Nate, Jen, Murray and Melissa are working on our "self-evaluation" which will be distributed and discussed with the staff at a short staff meeting on Wednesday at 2:30.


Attendance: Our attendance around the recent holiday breaks continues lower (low 80%s) than usual and is well below our goal of 90%. Advisors, please remain vigilant and check in with your advisees who have been absent repeatedly.

This Week 03.12.07

Week #1

Monday 3/12
- 10th Grade Harbor Arts at Seaport

Tuesday 3/13
- Nate OUT @ UA School of Law and Justice
- 9th Grade Harbor Science takes Section 1 to the Bronx River
- 10th Grade Harbor Arts at Seaport
- College Knowledge Author David Conley visit 7th & 8th period

Wednesday 3/14
- SAT Practice Exams
- Color Purple Matinee
- Harbor Department Mission Meeting - 12:30-2:30pm
- Grades Due - 2:30pm
- Short Staff Meeting (Agenda SQR) - 2:30pm
- Co-planning Meetings - 2:45-4:15pm
- Bank Street Hiring Fair - 4:00pm

Thursday 3/15
- 9th Grade Harbor Science takes Section 2 to the Bronx River
- 10th Grade Harbor Arts at Seaport
- Teacher's Choice Due to Alma
- School Leadership Team Meeting - 6:00-8:00pm

Friday 3/16
- 10th Grade Harbor Arts at Seaport
- National Honors Society Induction Ceremony - 6:00-8:00 pm
- Social Gathering @ Fresh Salt following NHS

Thank Yous 03.12.07

3rd Annual Harbor Benefit: Thank to you to Murray, our Harbor Advisory Board, and all those involved in creating an amazing energy at our benefit at the NY Yacht Club in Manhattan. Students Monique Campbell and Yoscar Ogando did a great job speaking (thank you Lauren!) and many staff and students came out to work the crowd of supporters of our school. It was a great night.

2nd Annual African American History Celebration: Thank You to Maria, Nicole, and Edwege for creating another great show of culture and celebration on Friday. Student Poetry from many students, Afro-Caribbean Dance by Alma's group Bambayo, and Step Performances by NY Harbor School and various sororities and fraternities from SUNY Stonybrook were among the highlights of the evening. It was truly an example of many of the great talents that exist in our school. Thank you to the students and organizers.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Updates 03.05.07

Attendance: Our attendance around the recent holiday breaks has been lower (low 80%s) than usual and is well below our goal of 90%. Advisors, please check with Belia for the most current information on students, and call advisees who have been absent repeatedly. We need to make every effort to improve our attendance as it has trended downward since October.

Discipline systems: On Feb. 28, Jen and Dorothy visited the Bronx Academy of Letters and the UA School for Law and Justice to look at alternative disciplinary systems. They will be working with Des and Nate to create a proposal for improving our current disciplinary system and staffing for next year. This proposal will be discussed at cabinet and then with the whole staff. We will also provide an open time for staff input and discussion as the proposal is developed.

12th Grade Advisories: Presenter from the Wood-Tobe Coburn School will be conducting another workshop on Time Management Skills on Friday 3/16 during 9th period. Wood-Tobe is willing to conduct six more workshops for our seniors over the course of the semester free of charge. Every workshop is geared toward preparing our seniors for the rigors of college.

School Quality Review on March 20-21: Please know that this visit is an important part of our "report card" for next year. Nate, Jen, Murray and Melissa are working on our "self-evaluation" which will be distributed and discussed with the staff before the SQR.

Special Education: Please let Marybelle know if you would like to be invovled in an annual review for a particular student. The following is a review of terminology.
SETSS - Special Education Teacher Support Services = resource room
CTT - Collaborative Team Teaching = 2 teachers in the room
12:1:1 - Self-contained Special Education Class with a para in room
15:1 - Self-contained Special Education Class no para needed
1:1 Para - A student who has a para with them in all major class - not electives

This Week 03.05.07

Week #2

Monday 3/5
- Sara escorts Raymond and Tanasia to the Island School!
- 10th Grade Harbor Arts to South Street Seaport
- Fundraiser Meeting for staff working the event in Rm 410 - 3:30pm

Tuesday 3/6
- 9th Grade Harbor Science takes Section 3 to the Harlem River
- 10th Grade Harbor Arts to South Street Seaport
- Governor's Island Food System Planning Meeting in Rm 410 - 3:30-4:15pm

Wednesday 3/7
- Various students out at Translations Play - 12:00pm
- Harbor Dept Mission/Vision Meeting (open to all staff) in Rm 410 - 12:15-2:15pm
- Student Job Fair @ NY Aquarium - 3:00pm
- Department Meetings - 2:30-3:35pm
- Scuba for Staff - 4:00pm
- Cabinet Meeting - 3:40-4:40pm

Thursday 3/8
- 9th Grade Harbor Science takes Section 4 to the Harlem River
- 10th Grade Harbor Arts to South Street Seaport
- Deadline for TeatroStageFest/Young Playwrite original scripts

Friday 3/9
- 10th Grade Harbor Arts to South Street Seaport
- 12th Grade Advisories - Budgeting & Finance presentation in Library - 9th period
- African-American History Celebration - 6-8pm
- Social Gathering for March B-days! TBA

Saturday 3/10
- Mandatory ESL training for "new" teachers - 8am
- Chain 2 China Protest - 1-4pm
- Brendan's Gig @ Cafe Necio - 8pm-late

Thank Yous 03.05.07

Student Council at Frost Valley: Congratulations to the 24 of 27 Student Council representatives who made the trek this weekend to Frost Valley, NY for their Winter Leadership Retreat. Jen and Murray led the trip and should be congratulated as well. It was a great turnout and the students did lots of team building and leadership training, as well as the snowy camp activities (skiing, tubing) that Frost Valley is known for.

Coxswain Training: Thank you to Brendan, Shane and Cheryl for attending a two-day coxswain training over the weekend with the East River Crew up at East 96th Street. We were fortunate enough to have Brendan give some great presentations. Now Shane and Ann (along with Brendan, of course) have been signed off to be lead coxswains and take students out in the 25ft whitehall gigs. One of the gigs up at East 96th Street, Non-Pareil, actually belongs to NYHS and is on loan to East River Crew until we get our own space to store it.

Basketball: The Bushwick Campus girls varsity team lost 57-43 in its 2nd round playoff game on Thursday and are out of the playoffs. They finished the season with only 1 loss in the B division. 9th Grader Racquel Davis was the star of the team this year, and should be congratulated on a great season. The Boys' varsity team (including Daquan Swint, Andrew Pepin, & Todd Lane) won its playoff game on Friday 53-49. The team continues on, with hopes for a city championship. Note: In April NY Harbor School boys will participate in an Urban Assembly basketball tournament. Noah, Ralph, and Marvin are helping to organize the team.

Island School: Congratulations to Tanasia Swift and Raymond Garcia for thier departure to the Island School this week. We send these two students all our best wishes! Thank you to Sara for taking on the responsibility of coordinating our semester programs and escorting the students to the Island School this week.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Global Warming Community Event

Communicating Climate Change:

With Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth and Tom Brokaw's recent special, more people are talking about global warming. Come see Strange Days on Planet Earth: The One Degree Factor, a short film hosted by actor Edward Norton, and learn more about the global warming challenge and what we can do about it. This study will help the event's organizers, the New York Aquarium, Yale University and Sea Studios Foundation, learn how ot effectively engage other on critical environmental issues. Sessions start at 10 AM and take place throughout the day. Each session will run two hours.

Place: New York Aquarium
Date: Saturday, March 3rd
Time: Sessions begin at 10am, 11:50am, 12:55pm, 2:45pm, adn 4:35pm
Contact: Bob Cummings, phone 718-265-3348 or rcummings@wcs.org

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Job Openings

NYHS has announced a few openings for the 2007-2008 school year. Click here to read more!

Monday, February 26, 2007

GLSEN Institute

PD opportunity for one teacher or para—email Jen if interested. As part of the Department’s commitment to provide all students with a safe and supportive school environment, the Office of Youth Development and the Office of School Intervention and Development are pleased to provide a two day professional development institute provided by GLSEN for school personnel serving in selected middle and high schools. The goal of the institute is to build the capacity of school personnel to: serve as a resource and support for students who may be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or questioning; actively promote a community of inclusion in the school so that all students feel both safe and respected; and serve as a resource for other school personnel regarding issues faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or questioning students. All participants are expected to attend both days in their entirety. At the conclusion of the training, each participant will receive the GLSEN Lunchbox which contains lessons and activities that can be used with school personnel and parents in turnkey training.
Cohort 4 GLSEN Institute will take place on:
Dates: March 9 and 10, 2007
Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Place: Bayard Rustin Educational Complex - Library
351 West 18th Street
New York, New York

Upcoming Events 02.26.07

- Prime Time @ Harbor School: "The next five weeks are chocked full of very important events for our school, including our 3rd Annual Fundraiser, National Honor Society inductions, African American History Night, Open School Night, etc. We appreciate all the tremendous effort that has gone into organizing these and all the other great things that will happen between now and Spring Break. Please remind students in your advisories of the events on Calendar posted in this update." -Jen & Nate

- Marking Period Ends March 9: There were 22 instructional days in this marking period. Grades Due March 14 at 3pm

- School Quality Review will be March 20 and 21 (A Week #1 Tuesday and Wednesday). The SQR is part of our overall progress report that will determine our school’s grade for the year. Please be prepared for visitors in your classes and let the students know that this is happening. Nate and Jen will get out more information about the types of questions that we expect and the types of responses that we will have given in our SQR Self Evaluation submitted before the reviewer(s) visit the school. We will also send out a draft of our self evaluation so that all staff members are aware of our answers and we present as consistent and clear a snapshot of the school as we can. FYI the Review focuses primarily on our use of Data to drive instruction.

This Week 02.26.07

Week #1

Monday, 2/26
- Attendance meeting 10:30 a.m. Michelle Aubin (UA attendance teacher) will be working from our school on Mondays.
- Ralph Perez out Monday February 26 through Friday, March 2, but will return Monday, March 5.
- Senior Music Anthology Party in library. Advisors, please bring your students down. All other staff are welcome.

Tuesday, 2/27
- Gold Honor Roll Dinner 6:30 p.m. at Planet Thai for gold honor roll members and their advisors. Thanks Pia for organizing.
- Nate OUT in morning to visit Urban Assembly School of Applied Math with other UA Principals. School is located the new Bathgate School Campus, designed by the architectural firm that we are working with for Governors Island site.

Wednesday, 2/28
- Jen and Dorothy OUT in morning at UA School of Arts and Letters and UA School of Law and Justice to observe and learn about their deaning and disciplinary systems, and maybe get some good new ideas.
- Grade Team Meeting/ Advisory Kid Talk Meeting 2:30-4:15pm

Thursday, 3/1
- Doctor in the Building. Coaches and Advisors please tell advisees that a doctor will be available for physical examinations for PSAL sports teams and for Working Papers. Students who wish to be examined must have a signed parental consent form which may be obtained from Health Aide Kerron Mondesir in Room 134.
- Jen and Sam OUT in morning for meeting with SCA and head of school food services about food service on Governors Island.

Friday, 3/2
- Student council to Frost Valley 9th period through Sunday afternoon for leadership training and planning.

Thank Yous 02.26.07

Thank You to Kima for pulling together another Harbor Mania. To Marvin for organizing the 11th vs. 12th Grade Basketball game, complete with uniforms and trophies for MVPs. 11th Grade went home victorious. Thank you to all those teachers who attended as well.

Thank You to Lauren for all her hard work in organizing the Valentine’s Day Poetry Contest. Congratulations to winner Jessica Grullon.

Thank You and Congratulations to Sara Scott and Melissa Jones for writing, submitting, and winning a $2500 Best Buy technology grant. We plan to use the money to purchase more computer projectors.

Thank You to Terri Germain (AP, AUP/BSSJ) and Monique Darrisaw (Principal, AUP) Winter Academy credit recovery program was success. First reports are that approximately 20 seniors recuperated PE credit. More information to come.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Laptop Carts

Please congratulate Pam Edwards, the new “Keeper of the Keys” and binder for signing out laptop carts, projector carts, and room 228. All other policies and procedures for using this equipment will stay the same.

Administrative Thank You

Thank you to Pam and Belia for giving out the metro cards this semester. Thanks also to Luis, Bev and Des who helped keep order in the auditorium during distribution. Thank you to Shoba, Maria and Bev who distributed lunch books in the cafeteria.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Weekend Update 02.12.07

Harbor School Google Calendar:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ba74p50iajqfmj5asceahigcic%40group.calendar.google.com

This Week: (week #2)
Monday 2/12

- HarborMania Week Begins!
- 3rd Annual Valentine Poetry Contest Continues!
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts at the Seaport
Tuesday 2/13
- 9th Grade Harbor Science at Dead Horse Bay with Section 3
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts at the Seaport
- 3:00pm in library -poetry slam and reading for Starrie's mom who has recently published a book of poems entitled "Too Close, Too Skin."
Wednesday 2/14
- Assembly from 9:30-10:45am.
- 2:25 – Short Staff Meeting and then Co-Planning Meeting
Thursday 2/15
- 9th Grade Harbor Science at Dead Horse Bay with Section 4
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts at the Seaport
Friday 2/16
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts at the Seaport
- Harbormania Basketball game
- 2/16 (Fri) to 2/25 (Sun) – February Break

Upcoming Events:
1) 2/17 (Sat) - 2pm Screening of Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth @ Harlem River Ecology Center
2) 2/27 (Tues) – Dinner for Gold Honor Roll
3) 2/23 (Fri) & 2/24 (Sat) – Captain of the Amistad Speaks at the Harlem River Ecology Center
4) 3/9 (Fri) - Black History Celebration 6-8pm
5) 3/16 (Fri) – National Honors Society Induction Ceremony
6) 3/22 (Thurs) – Open School Night
7) 3/23 (Fri) – Open School Day
8) 5/9 (Wed) – Open School Night
9) 6/6 (Wed) – Prom 6:00pm-10:00pm
10) 6/25 (Mon) – Graduation 6:00pm

Information:
1) Snow Ball: Congratulations to Kima, Sonjah and Marybelle for their hard work putting together a wonderful dance on Friday. Also, thanks to the many staff who helped to chaperone. It was wonderful to see so many students working together on a great event.
2) New Attendance Teacher: Please welcome and introduce Michelle Aubin, the new Urban Assembly attendance teacher. She’ll be with us one day a week.
3) Parent Association Meeting on Saturday morning: About 12 energetic parents came for what turned out to be quite a lengthy meeting; topics of discussion included Governors Island, scanning, special education, ELL's, bullying, increasing opportunities for AP and College Now at NYHS, and more.
4) Assembly Wednesday 9:45 to approx. 11:00 There will be an assembly Wednesday morning for a performance by Teatro El Puente. Also during the assembly we will have the Valentine's Day poetry slam/contest. More information to follow.
5) Dinner for Gold Honor Roll On Tuesday, February 27, students on gold honor roll for the first semester, plus their advisors, are invited to dinner in a restaurant (probably Planet Thai in Williamsburg.) Pia is organizing this event; more details to follow.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Weekend Update 02.05.07

Harbor School Google Calendar:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ba74p50iajqfmj5asceahigcic%40group.calendar.google.com

This Week: (week #1)
Monday 2/5
- 3rd Annual Valentine Poetry Contest Continues!
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts at the Seaport
Tuesday 2/6
- 9th Grade Harbor Science at Dead Horse Bay with Section 1
- Open House for 8th Graders 6:00-7:30pm
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts at the Seaport
Wednesday 2/7
- JEN OUT
- 2:25-3:35pm – Department Meetings
- 3:35-4:45pm - Cabinet Meeting 3:35
- Delegate Assembly @ UFT Headquarters 4:00-6:00pm
Thursday 2/8
- 9th Grade Harbor Science at Dead Horse Bay with Section 2
- Rebecca Krucoff’s Urban Memory Project at Williamsburg Prep High School
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts at the Seaport
Friday 2/9
- Snow Ball Dance
- 11th Grade Harbor Arts at the Seaport
Saturday 2/10
- Parent Association Meeting 9am-12pm

Upcoming Events:
1) 2/12 (Mon) to 2/16 (Fri) – HARBORMANIA
2) 2/14 (Wed) – Assembly from 9:30-10:45am.
3) 2/16 (Fri) – Harbormania Basketball game
4) 2/16 (Fri) to 2/25 (Sun) – February Break
5) 2/17 (Sat) - 2pm Screening of Inconvenient Truth @ Harlem Rvr Ecology Cntr
6) 2/23 (Fri) & 2/24 (Sat) – Captain of Amistad Speaks @ Harlem Rvr Ecology Cntr
7) 3/22 (Thurs) – Open School Night
8) 3/23 (Fri) – Open School Day
9) 5/9 (Wed) – Open School Night

Information:

1) Schedule Changes. We are still working on program changes, primarily for 10th graders and 12th Graders. Monday morning we will distribute new 10th grade programs to students. These changes will affect class rosters, primarily in science, but also there may be some changes in ESL/English rosters. 12th Graders have chose electives on Friday and on Monday morning Lily will program them for their afternoon classes and electives. Please listen for announcements regarding distribution of 12th grade programs.
2) Parent Association Meeting on Saturday 9am-12pm. Parent Leadership Conference coordinated by AUP will take place afterward.
3) Jen out Wednesday at New Visions AP Meeting and Teach for America recruitment fair.
4) Harbor Snow Ball dance will take place on Friday evening 7-10pm. Thank you to all teachers who will chaperone.
5) Harbormania is coming (again!). The week of February 11-15 will be Harbormania, culminated by basketball games on Friday, Feb. 16. More information will be provided by Kima and administration.
6) SQR in April. The Department of Education is conducting School Quality Reviews in every empowerment zone school this year. Our review will be in April. It will entail two and a half days of interviews with staff, parents, and students, and going over all of our achievement data (Regents, Class pass rates, etc.).
7) Jerry Brown:http://www.woolman.org/woolman.html Sierra Friends Center 13075 Woolman Lane Nevada City, CA 95959
8) Urban Memory Project: Williamsburg Pre High School near the Bedfore L stop. Thursday, February 8th @ 5-7pm.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Weekend Update 01.22.07

Harbor School Google Calendar:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ba74p50iajqfmj5asceahigcic%40group.calendar.google.com

This Week: (week #2 - again)
Monday 1/29

-All Grades Due 9am – please be respectful of this deadline
-10th grade advisory skating trip
-Lily gets grades and Regents scores in HSST so transcripts get updated
-8 am - 12 pm - Another chance to see the plans and comment on GI. Murray and Nate will be meeting with the School Construction Authority on Monday to review the program and timeline.
-11:30 am - 9th Grade Meeting - Rm 422
-1 pm - Nate and Murray meeting at School Construction Authority
-1-2 pm - Workshop with Ali and Nicole: How to read transcripts/H.S. graduation requirements new advisors, teachers, and anyone else interested) - Rm 412.
Tuesday 1/30
-
9-10:30 am - 11th grade advisors and guidance work together to update graduation progress charts for each student based on updated transcripts – Rm 412
-10:30 am -12:00 pm - 12th grade advisors and guidance work together to update graduation progress charts for each student based on updated transcripts. Lists of students needing independent study or p.m. school by subject area are created – Rm 412
-1:45-2:00 pm - All staff meeting. Film premier of English dept. in drag - Rm 412
-2:00-3:00 pm - Dept. meetings
-Urban Memory Project @ 6pm in Park Slope
Wednesday 1/31
-Murray presents to the Governors Island Advisory Council
-11th Grade Advisors will have one-on-one advisory meetings with their advisees on Wednesday. If you haven't already done so, please take time on Monday to call make sure these meetings are scheduled.
-9-10:30 am - Guidance/Independent Projects Meeting - Rm 412
-10:30 am -2:00 pm - Some 12th grade student meetings
-10:30-11:00 am - 9th grade advisors/admin advisory curriculum meeting - Rm 412
-11:30 am -12:00 pm - 10th grade advisors/admin advisory curriculum meeting - Rm 412
-12:00-1:00 pm Harbor Department Meeting - Rm 410
-2:25-4:15 pm - Staff Meeting(Kid Talk and Advisory) – Rm 412
-End of First Semester
Thursday 2/1 (Week 2 – Day 9)
-Beginning of Second Semester
-Program Distribution as students enter.
-9th Grade Harbor Science at Seaport for PCB trip
Friday 1/26 (Week 2 – Day 10)
-9th Grade Section 3 & 4 PCB Debates

Upcoming Events:
1) 2/6 (Tues) – Open House for 8th Graders 6:00-7:30pm
2) 2/7 (Wed) – Delegate Assembly @ UFT Headquarters 4:00-6:00pm
3) 2/14 (Wed) – Assembly from 9:30-10:45am.
4) 2/16 (Fri) to 2/25 (Sun) – February Break
5) 2/17 (Sat) - 2pm Screening of Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth @ Harlem River Ecology Center
6) 2/23 (Fri) & 2/24 (Sat) – Captain of the Amistad Speaks at the Harlem River Ecology Center
7) 3/22 (Thurs) – Open School Night
8) 3/23 (Fri) – Open School Day
9) 5/9 (Wed) – Open School Night

Information:
1) Urban Memory Project: For those of you who know Rebecca Kruckoff – Read on!
Brooklyneyzed: A Walk Through Gentrified Times
Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 6 - 9pm
The Secondary School for Research
237 Seventh Avenue (between 4th and 5th Streets), Park Slope, Brooklyn
This exhibition examines current issues facing Brooklyn, specifically focusing on the
Atlantic Yards controversy, the impending renovation of Coney Island, and the
development of Park Slope, through student photographs and writing pieces.
2) Jerry Brown left for the Woolman semester in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains last week. He will completing his senior year courses with 8 other studetns from around the country. He will return on May 27th. I know he'd love to hear from us. Check out the school at: http://www.woolman.org/woolman.html Write him at: Sierra Friends Center 13075 Woolman Lane Nevada City, CA 95959
3) Robotics Club: On January 28, the Robotics club competed in their second yearly tournament. Overall, we ranked 19th out of 60-something places, coming close to Brooklyn Tech by the end of the second round. Despite some battery issues, our robot, Homie II performed great. We are currently prepping for the robotic pentathlon in February. If you know of any 9th graders that might be interested, we meet every Monday, room 431 at 3:30 PM.
4) School Partnership Coordinator: Sara Scott has taken on the job of School Partnership Coordinator. She will be coordinating the recruitment, application and placement process of 5 Harbor School students per semester in the following competitive semester programs: Woolman Semester, The Island School and Maine Coast Semester. We are still looking for a Summer Partnership Coordinator for 3 or 4 possible summer programs.
5) First Graduate of the New Bushwick High School Campus! The Bushwick Campus graduated an 84 year old veteran on Monday, in a great ceremony in the Auditorium. He was at Bushwick HS from 1936 to 1940 but never graduated then. Here is the link to the story in the Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/491235p-413798c.html
6) Urban Divers Summer Internship: “We have a paid and unpaid internship program opening up for the summer, for a high academic achiever, mature, hardworking and responsible Harbor School Senior or Junior with great deal of knowledge of our local urban estuary's ecology and its environmental challenges. This intern will assist with our summer environmental education through recreation programs. Other desired skill set, an able bodied seaman, or seawoman, swimmer, paddler, rower, diver always a plus, articulate, good writing skills, personable, good leadership skills loves the water, must enjoy working with peers and younger youth. A perfect candidate is someone who seeks to pursuit higher education in the related field, environmental sciences, education, marine sciences (oceanography, marine biology, etc)” –Luger Balin of the Urban Divers
7) Captain of Amistad Speaks: Friday Feb 23rd and Sat Feb 24th Capt Bill Pinkney - Explorer, Author, Seafarer, Former Capt of the historic sail ship Amistad -presents at the Harlem River Ecology Center. Capt Bill successfully circumnavigated the globe on his small sailboat. His fantastic adventure is illustrated in fun children's book for the entire family to enjoy. He also recently published his autobiography. Capt Bill will make a colorful presentation about life journey, his accomplishments and his awesome adventures. Both his children's book and his autobiography will be available. Note: Friday Feb 24th is reserved for Youth and Senior group field trips from 10am to 2pm. Sat 24th at 3pm is for the General Public. We are asking anyone interested in bringing a group on Friday, to book in advance. Program is simply by donations.
8) Reminder: SQR in April: The Department of Education is conducting School Quality Reviews in every empowerment zone school this year. Our review will be in April. It will entail two and a half days of interviews with staff, parents, and students, and going over all of our achievement data (Regents, Class pass rates, etc.).
9) Have you changed your address recently? Then you must notify the Department of Education, the union and Teachers Retirement System (TRS) when you change you address, name or telephone number. You can get forms from the payroll secretary to notify the DOE or get the forms online. To notify the UFT, please fill out and send a Personal Information Change Form to the UFT's Membership Department. Members can also notify the union by sending an e-mail to membership@uft.org, but they need to include their file number and a telephone number where they can be reached by a Membership Department representative. In addition, if members have a change in beneficiary or in marital status, they should contact the Welfare Fund and request a Change of Status Form. (This form is not online.) Don't forget to contact TRS as well.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Weekend Update 01.22.07

Harbor School Google Calendar:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ba74p50iajqfmj5asceahigcic%40group.calendar.google.com

This Week: (week #2)
Monday 1/22
· Regular School Day
· Nate and Murray out AM for GIPEC meeting.
· 9th Grade Harbor Science at South Street Seaport for PCB’s with Section 3
· 11th Grade Harbor Arts at South Street Seaport for journaling/sketching
Tuesday 1/23
-English Final 10th Grade 8:45-10:25
-Global Regents 9 am -12 pm + extended time 12-1:30 pm
-Global Final Regents Practice 10th Grade 10:30-12:10
-ELA Regents Day I 1 pm – 4 pm + extended time 4 – 5:30 pm
Wednesday 1/24
-No Staff Meeting
-Spanish Regents 9 am – 12 pm
-ELA Regents Part II 1 pm – 4 pm + extended time 4 – 5:30 pm
Thursday 1/25
-Non-Regents Classes Grades Due
-Math A and B Final 8:45-10:25
-US History Regents 9-12 pm + 12-1:30 pm extended time
-US History Final Regents Practice 11th Grade 10:30-12:10
-US History Regents/Finals Grading 1-3:30pm (or beyond)
-Math A Regents 1 – 4pm + 4 – 5:30 extended time
Friday 1/26
· Harbor Corps and Student Council Retreat to Frost Valley
· Math A Regents Grading
· Living Environment and Chemistry Finals 8:45-10:25
· Earth Science Final 8:45-10:25
· Math B Regents 9 – 12 pm + 12 – 1:30 pm extended time
· Living Environment Regents 9 – 12 pm + 12 – 1:30 pm extended time

Upcoming Events:
1) 1/29 (Mon) – Regents Classes Grades Due 9am
2) 1/31 (Wed) – End of First Semester – No Students
3) 2/1 (Thurs) – Second Semester Begins
4) 2/6 (Tues) – Open House for 8th Graders 6:00-7:30pm
5) 2/7 (Wed) – Delegate Assembly @ UFT Headquarters 4:00-6:00pm
6) 2/14 (Wed) – Assembly from 9:30-10:45am.
7) 2/16 (Fri) to 2/25 (Sun) – February Break
8) 3/22 (Thurs) – Open School Night
9) 3/23 (Fri) – Open School Day
10) 5/9 (Wed) – Open School Night

Information:
1) Urban Memory Project: For those of you who know Rebecca Kruckoff – Read on!
Brooklyneyzed: A Walk Through Gentrified Times
Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 6 - 9pm
The Secondary School for Research
237 Seventh Avenue (between 4th and 5th Streets), Park Slope, Brooklyn
This exhibition examines current issues facing Brooklyn, specifically focusing on the Atlantic Yards controversy, the impending renovation of Coney Island, and the development of Park Slope, through student photographs and writing pieces.
2) UFT Responds to DOE Reorganization in terms of Tenure: “Mayor announces yet another major reorganization of schools: Scrapping the plan he unveiled just four years ago, Mayor Bloomberg announced yet another major overhaul of the city school system this week. This shake-up will not endanger the jobs of any UFT members. We have an intact contract through the rest of the Bloomberg administration that immunizes us by providing job security. In addition to the reorganization, the mayor said there would be a more rigorous tenure review for new teachers. His proposal does not affect teachers who already have tenure. As for probationary teachers, the union will fight to defend the integrity of the process by which they are evaluated. The UFT believes that there is a rigorous process already in place and using student test scores as part of the evaluative process would be both a violation of the contract and terrible public policy.”
3) Purchase Coach Bus Service in the FAMIS Portal: You can now check out coach bus service for extracurricular activities through the FAMIS portal. This new method will help you easily find the least expensive contracted vendor, reserve your buses, and send the purchase order to the vendor via email. For more information, visit the Office of Pupil Transportation’s coach bus website at www.opt-osfns.org/opt/contract/coach_list.asp.
4) Frost Valley: January 26-28, Murray and Jen will be taking student council and Harbor Corps to do leadership training and planning at a beautiful environmental education center in the Catskills. Anyone who would like to help chaperone is welcome—please talk to Murray or Jen.
5) Proctoring: Please see attached final proctoring schedule for the week. Noah will coordinate Regents exams with the Science Lab as the headquarters. Regents tests will be given in the 418 to 435 hallway. Regents Proctors should pick up and return test packets from Noah in the Lab. Semester Final Exams will be administered in the 401 to 410 hallway. Proctors should pick up and return test packets from Jen in Room 408. Please check email regularly this week for testing updates.
6) Reminder Regents (55-64): Teachers, if there are individual students who have a realistic chance to take a 55-64 Regents score to a 65 or above, please encourage them to walk-in for the Regents in Math A or English. In May and June we will offer Regents prep for select students in order to improve there scores, so for January Regents students should be encouraged who clearly will improve.
7) Reminder Scantron Machine: Nate has secured use of a new scantron machine which is owned by AUP. The machine currently resides in 414 where it will be tested, but will be returned to the 5th floor this week. We will have access to it for Finals and Regents exams. Please let Louie know if you need scantron sheets for your Finals.
8) Nate/Murray out Monday morning at a meeting on Governors Island. They will meet with Leslie Koch, the President of GIPEC.
9) Grades due. Grades for non-regents courses are due to Lily at 3pm on Thursday. Regents course grades are due on Monday 1/29 at 9am. Please respect these deadlines as our entire program for second semester depends on having them for programming purposes.
10) End of Semester Meeting Schedule. There is no staff meeting this week. Next week on Tuesday there will be a professional development presentation of the English Department's movie, followed by Department meetings. On Wednesday we will have Grade Team meetings and Advisory team meetings from 2:30 to 4:15. Thursday, the second semester will begin. There will also be individual guidance and financial aid meetings this week and next for 11th and 12th graders to make individual graduation action plans.
11) Hiring Update. We welcome Marilyn Payton to our staff as math teacher. On Monday Niulka Tavarez will begin as our parent coordinator. She will work in the main office until further notice. Nate and Jen will meet with her on Monday and send out to the staff a job description so that everyone is clear as to her roles and responsibilities.
12) Harbormania is coming (again!). The week of February 11-15 will be Harbormania, culminated by basketball games on Friday, Feb. 15. More information will be provided by Kima and administration.
13) Reminder: SQR in April. The Department of Education is conducting School Quality Reviews in every empowerment zone school this year. Our review will be in April. It will entail two and a half days of interviews with staff, parents, and students, and going over all of our achievement data (Regents, Class pass rates, etc.).