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.
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