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.

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.).

Weekend Update 01.10.07

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

Thank Yous:
Columbia Engineering Experience: “It is with great honor that I announce that Asha Armstrong and Jeriel Stafford have been selected to participate in the Columbia Engineering Experience, a 2-day program for New York City high school sophomores on the campus of Columbia University. I nominated them for the program after they both expressed an interest in learning more about the field of engineering. This event will take place on February 22-23 during the mid-winter break.” -Nicole

This Week: (week #1)
Monday 1/15
-Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
Tuesday 1/16
-9th Grade Harbor Science at South Street Seaport for PCB’s
-11th Grade Harbor Arts at South Street Seaport for journaling/sketching
Wednesday 1/17
-Regluar Staff Meeting @ 2:30 - Cabinet Meeting @ 3:45-4:45

Thursday 1/18
-9th Grade Harbor Science at South Street Seaport for PCB’s
-11th Grade Harbor Arts at South Street Seaport for journaling/sketching
-9th Grade Student Council Elections
Friday 1/19
-11th Grade Harbor Arts at South Street Seaport for journaling/sketching

Upcoming Events:
1) 1/23 (Tues) to 1/26 (Fri) – Regents Week
2) 1/26 (Fri) to 1/28 (Sun) – Harbor Corps & Student Council Retreat to Frost Valley
3) 1/29 (Mon) – Grades Due 9am
4) 1/31 (Wed) – End of First Semester – No Students
5) 2/1 (Thurs) – Second Semester Begins
6) 2/6 (Tues) – Open House for 8th Graders 6:00-7:30pm
7) 2/7 (Wed) – Delegate Assembly @ UFT Headquarters 4:00-6:00pm
8) 2/14 (Wed) – Assembly from 9:30-10:45am.
9) 2/16 (Fri) to 2/25 (Sun) – February Break
10) 3/22 (Thurs) – Open School Night
11) 3/23 (Fri) – Open School Day
12) 5/9 (Wed) – Open School Night

Information:
1) Spanish Regents: This January, we will be giving all 10th grade conversational Spanish speakers the Spanish Regents exam, in order to grant credit for their language ability, as we did for the 11th and 12th grade last June. The Spanish regents will be given at 9:15 a.m. on Wednesday, January 24. This information will also be mailed home to parents. Jen and Damaris will be visiting 10th grade advisories on Monday, January 8, in order to explain this to students and answer questions about who should take the exam and why. We will generate a list of students who will be taking the exam at that point. There is a brief oral part of the exam that must be administered one on one to each student in the weeks leading up to the exam. Damaris will be pulling students out of class (for 5 minutes) to do this in the coming weeks. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you in advance for your understanding. If you have any questions, see Jen, Damaris, or Awilda.

2) Student Council Elections: Long overdue, we’d like to elect 9th grade student council representatives from each advisory. This will require a little bit of adjustment in your lesson planning for next week. If you have concerns, feel free to talk to me and we can work it out.
· Tuesday, January 16 ANNOUNCEMENTS IN ADVISORY: Jen and student council officers visit 9th grade advisories, explaining student council member qualifications, responsibilities, and election procedures.
· Wednesday, January 17 SPEECH AND VOTER RESPONSIBILITY DAY: In advisory advisors lead a discussion about the responsibilities of voters, and the qualities that student should look for in a representative (track record of getting things done, someone who communicates with lots of different students well, someone reliable, not a popularity contest, etc.) Students interested in running for student council give short speeches to their advisories about their goals and why they think they'd make a good representative. Advisors who are unsure about candidate academic qualifications see Jen or guidance for verification.
· Thursday, January 18 ELECTION DAY: At end of advisory advisors should have prepared ballots at the ready, and set up a “voting station” in a corner, where students go one by one, fill out a ballot, and drop it in a hat or another container. Advisors tally votes after students leave, and report winner and alternate via email to Jen.
· ANNOUNCEMENT OF WINNERS: New student council representatives will be announced for the first time over intercom. New representatives will attend leadership training and planning retreat with rest of student council upstate at Frost Valley, January 26-28, 2007.

3) Upcoming Regents/Finals. Important: This week we will begin our push towards Regents/Finals week, next week. We will make announcements to emphasize the schedules that have been posted in the hallways. Please announce to advisories the importance of these semester finals. We hope and expect to have excellent attendance for all the final exams.

4) Regents re-takes: Teachers, if there are individual students who have a legitimate chance to take a 55-64 Regents to a 65 or above, please encourage them to walk-in for the Regents. Obviously, as we have not had an organized Regents Prep for this test improvement purpose, teachers should use their best judgment in terms of encouraging students for re-takes (although a lower score will not count against them in terms of graduation).

5) Hiring Update: The personnel committee has interviewed several candidates for the Math position. We had two finalists, and observed lessons for both. We have offered the position to Ms. Marilyn Payton and she has accepted and will begin on Wednesday, 1/17. Niulka, who was working as a substitute in the class, has also expressed interest in the Parent Coordinator position. She and one other parent coordinator finalist will meet with a group of parents on Tuesday at 2pm. Nate and the personnel committee expect to make a decision regarding the PC position before the end of the semester.

6) 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 next week. We will have access to it for Finals and Regents exams. Please let Louie know if you need scantron sheets for your Finals.

7) Student Program Opportunities Coordinator(s): We are in need of a teacher to Coordinate outside programs. Currently we have the opportunity to place our students in programs like the Island School in the Bahamas, Maine Coast Semester, the Summer Ranch Program in Wyoming, Woolman Semester and others. Murray has been handling this role, but we need a Coordinator (or more than one) with more time than Murray has right now, to be responsible for advertising programs and recruitment, taking applications, sending applications and following up with the Programs once the students are placed. Duties would include travel to the respective sites (paid by NYHS) to solidify relationships and ensure the best possible programs for our students. At this time approximately 8-10 students per semester could be involved in these incredible opportunities. If you are interested in this position please email Murray, with a copy to Nate and Jen. Thank you.

8) Harbormania is coming (again!) The week of February 11-15 will be Harbormania, culminated by basketball games on Thursday, Feb. 16.

9) Dept. of Education re-organization: Wednesday the Mayor and the Chancellor will announce several more major reforms in the DoE. Many more schools will enter the Empowerment Zone and the Regions will shrink next year from 10 to 5. It is my understanding that the Regions will be borough-centric (one for each borough), and while we are in the UA network, this re-organization may affect us in terms of who we deal with for Special Education and ELL matters, as well as for student placement and transfers. Again, I will do my best to buffer the school

10) Governors’ Island Update: Thank you for all who participated in the Facilities Meeting last Wednesday. It was very helpful. Murray and Nate meet with 21 people from GIPEC and the School Construction Authority on Thursday. The meeting concentrated on SCA working with GIPEC regarding building permits, electricity, water, etc. There was no open discussion of our building’s design at this meeting, but over the next two weeks we hope to finalize the design of Building 550. While there is still much institutional inertia to a Sept. 2008 timeline, we are pushing hard to make that happen. Nate and Murray have a January 22 morning meeting with Leslie Koch to discuss our other needs on the Island (pier, boathouse, pool, theatre, fields, etc.), and how to make them work.

11) 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 our data. More information coming soon.