WEEKLY BULLETIN for Week Beginning 2.26.18

CALL TO ACTION

● 1^ST MARKING PERIOD ENDS THIS FRIDAY, MARCH 1

The first marking period ends this Friday, March 2^nd (it is a very short marking period since Parent-Teacher Conferences are on March 8 & 9).  Make sure your students know where they stand in your classes.

● LESSONS FROM SCHOOL TRAGEDY

Last week we were rocked by the school shooting in Florida – this should remind us of how important it is to report all matters and to communicate with families.  Most importantly, continue to speak with our students directly who will provide the most informed status of our building's climate. 

● HELPING THOSE IN NEED

As part of Ms. Fraga-Zwibel’s and Ms. Abraskin’s First Monday community outreach group, they will be collecting donations for kids in homeless shelters.  The supplies that are most needed are toiletries (soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, brushes, combs, deodorant, etc).  Donations should be brought to Rooms 845 or 725.  Thank you to Ms. Fraga-Zwibel and Ms. Abraskin for leading these efforts.  Attached to the weekly bulletin is a flier on behalf of these efforts.

● 3 DAYS OF NON-ATTENDANCE RESULTS IN A GUIDANCE REFERRAL

If you do not see a student for 3 days in your class, please submit a guidance referral so we can follow-up as to their whereabouts.  Online Referral forms are on the Staff Website.

● ENCOURAGE HSFI STUDENTS TO CHECK HSFI EMAILS

Supporting our college readiness theme, remind your students that they should be checking their HSFI email every day.  Students should be getting in the habit of checking their HSFI every day because they will lose out on many opportunities if they don’t do so.

FILL OUT NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION STAFF SURVEY

Dear HSFI Teaching & Guidance Staff:

Please take a few minutes to complete the anonymous DOE Learning Environment staff survey online – your supervisor should have (or will) given you the postcard below.

 

I look carefully at the overall results to shape the direction of things like professional development and staff communication. 

Prospective HSFI parents and families and students look to the results to decide whether they should apply to our school or not. 

We have worked tremendously hard together to create a wonderful learning environment for our students and this is your chance to let them know. Thank you!

The link to the survey is below, but you must have the unique access code from the postcard to proceed:

http://schools.nyc.gov/Accountability/tools/survey/default.htm

THIS WEEK’S CALENDAR:

MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 26 *Regular Bell Schedule STOP EVERYTHING & REFLECT during Period 3 PBIS Committee Meeting Per. 7 – Room 821 PM Supervisor: B McGuinness (Rm. 329)	27 *Regular Bell Schedule PM Supervisor: J Tallone (Rm. 201)	28 *Regular Bell Schedule School Leadership Team Meeting 4:00pm – Rm. 821 Parents Association Meeting 6:00pm – Rm. 829 PM Supervisor: A Rodrigues (Rm. 515)	MARCH 1 *Regular Bell Schedule Learning Partners Program Visit to HSFI by Art and Design HS, Fort Hamilton HS & Brooklyn Bridges Academy PM Supervisor: J Tallone (Rm. 201)	2 *Regular Bell Schedule Marking Period 1 Ends STUDENT TOWN HALLS Periods 4 – 7 in Room 821 PM Supervisor: K Boulamaali (Rm. 703)

NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR:

MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
MARCH 5 *First Monday Special Redesign Schedule / Professional Learning Communities Distribution of DOE Student Surveys during Period 3 where First Monday Attendance is taken	6 *Regular Bell Schedule	7 *OP Bell Schedule Distribution of Report Cards	8 *Regular Bell Schedule Parent-Teacher Conferences Night 5:30pm – 8:00pm	9 SPECIAL HALF DAY SCHEDULE HSFI ADVISORY BOARD CAREER DAY Parent-Teacher Conferences Afternoon 1:00pm – 3:00pm

COMING IN 2 WEEKS – 2^nd SET OF PARENT VISITATION DAYS March 15 & 16

Thank you once again for being supportive of our Family Visitation Days on Thursday, March 15 and Friday, March 16, 2018. During these Family Visitation Days, HSFI parents will be able to observe their children in action.  This weekend we are beginning to register parents.  We will make sure the parents that attend understand that this is not a day to conference with you and have them go through an orientation on the behavioral expectations for the day.  We will let you know the parents that sign up for these visits.  We understand that you are voluntarily agreeing to participate in these visits, so THANK YOU!  If you do not wish to participate, please reach out to me directly.

CAREER & TECHNICAL SPRING SHOWCASE EVENTS CALENDAR

Friday, March 9	HSFI Advisory Board ‘Career Day’
Tuesday, April 17 & Wednesday, April 18	Annual Fashion Show Preview Days
Wednesday, April 18	Whole Foods Project
Wednesday, April 25	International Center of Photography Exhibit Opening
Wednesday, May 2	Annual Fashion Show Feeder Show to Middle School Students
Friday, May 4	Senior Graphics & Illustration Art Show
Friday, May 11	Annual Fashion Show - PUBLIC
Thursday, May 17	STOKED (Skateboard Club) Presentation
To Be Determined	Annual Fashion Show – INDUSTRY SHOW
To Be Determined	Kleinfeld Bridal Culminating Event

THE ANSWER IS IN THE ROOM

Here are some highlights of the best practices shared by HSFI Staff Members.  This round focuses on the use of TWR in the classroom:

In the Social Studies Department, Ms. Ruff created an activity on the Tang and Song Dynasties.  This activity includes a TWR Sentence expansion, and a single paragraph outline.

TWR Sentence Expansion and SPO

In the Science Department, Ms. Herrick created a TWR activity regarding cell division (mitosis and meiosis).  Students were prompted to write a single paragraph outline about a given topic sentence.

Cell Division SPO

If you would like to see all of the activities compiled from last year, as well as the weekly additions, you can check out the shared Google Folder via the link below.

HSFI Best Practices Folder

*If any staff member would like to share a lesson, activity, or best practice, send it to Ms. Paz at spaz@hsfi.us or Mr. Kearns at kkearns@hsfi.us

STOP EVERYTHING & REFLECT CONTINUES THIS MONDAY

As part of our ongoing efforts to check-in with our students to see how they are doing and feeling, we will continue our ‘ STOP EVERYTHING & REFLECT’ activity on Monday, February 26 where we will be asking students to write a brief reflection to the following questions:

□ Is something Positive going on in your life?  If so, describe

□ Is something bothering you at school? If so, describe

□ Is something bothering you at home? If so, describe

Based on student and staff feedback, we will be doing this activity every Monday moving forward with some slight adjustments.  Once a month we will be asking the entire school to do this reflection piece / on the Mondays in between, only students who wish to do the reflection based on changes in their lives will do the reflection piece.  Teachers are to given students this time for these reflections every Monday instead of school announcements.  This will be done during the 5 minute announcement time during Period 3 – besides the Pledge of Allegiance, there will be no announcements on that particular day.  Teachers can decide which 5 minutes of the class period that they want students to do this activity. 

The main purpose of this reflection is to provide information to the guidance staff about students.  Teachers spend a lot more time with students and educational research indicates that students share more information with teachers because they see them every day and develop a strong comfort level with them.  Counselors will see the responses from the students in their caseloads and be able to follow up appropriately to do additional check-ins and provide resources to students and their families.  These reflections will provide important information to our guidance counselors in order for them to contribute even more to looking out for our students.

If you have any suggestions for this reflection piece and/or logistics for implementation, please feel free to speak with me about it or email me suggestions.  Thank you!

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONAL REMINDERS

● OUR INSTRUCTIONAL FOCUS FOR 2017-18 & BEYOND

□ Every student feels cared for

□ Every student feels challenged

● SPRING OBSERVATION CYCLES

□ Observation Cycle #3

Intervisitations – Week of February 26

Evaluative Observations – Weeks of March 5, 12 & 19

□ Observation Cycle #4

Intervisitations - – Week of April 30

Evaluative Observations - – Weeks of May 7, 14 & 21

● SPRING MARKING PERIODS

□ 1^st Marking Period ends Friday, March 2nd (very short marking period since Parent / Teacher Conferences are March 8 & 9)

□ 2^nd Marking Period ends Friday, April 27

□ 3^rd Marking Period ends Friday, June 15

● SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING & FASHION DOLLARS EXPECTATION

The time and effort spent on connecting with students on a social emotional level and reinforcing positive behavior with Fashion Dollars is well worth it – my expectation is that this is done every day in every class. 

● SPECIAL EDUCATION IMPORTANT REMINDERS

There have been a few changes in the SWD Department! Students who are placed in ICT classes will now have the letter at the end of their official (ex-45P). Students with SETSS will also continue to have their official noted with a letter at the end and our Self-contained students will continue to have the letter at the beginning of their official class. Students within our D75 Inclusion Program will have an L as the first letter of their official class and by now all teachers who work with these students have access to their information in SESIS.

Please continue to complete and submit the electronic standards-based Teachers Form sent prior to IEP meetings. The information you are required to complete on this form is subject specific and your insight will better help us in determine the needs of our students with IEPs. The Teacher Form in conjunction with your participation at the IEP meeting (if you are invited) are two critical elements we need in order to best serve our students. We try to plan our IEP and Triennial meetings with teacher schedules in mind, however there are times when families are only available at specific times and a coverage will be requested for your class.

OPERATIONAL NEED TO KNOW

● CHECK YOUR DOE & HSFI EMAILS EVERYDAY

● HSFI STAFF HOMEPAGE LINK - https://sites.google.com/a/hsfi.us/hsfi-staff-portal/

● SUBCENTRAL DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHERS & PARAPROFESSIONALS

□ The Sub Central System is used by Teachers and Paraprofessionals Only. All other staff must call Ms. Herzog at ext. 1191 to report an absence.
□ Sub Central System Contact Information

Telephone Access: 718-935-6740

Website: subcentral.eschoolssolutions.com
Live Help Desk: 718-935-4401 (Monday to Friday 6am to 5pm)

Email: subcentral@schools.nyc.gov
□ Key Reminders:
#1 - Only use Sub Central for reporting absence, after 3pm (for the next day). Prior to 3pm please contact Ms. Herzog.
#2 - Wait for the Job Number.
#3 - Change the time to fit your schedule.
#4 - Emergency and calls after 6:30 am, in addition please call Ms. Herzog ext. 1191 as well as your supervisor. No emails.

● SUSTAINABILITY / GREEN TEAM SURVEY

Please support our Sustainability / Green Team Director, Ms. Batts, by filling out a brief, Sustainability Survey – thank you in advance for doing it to help our Green Team.

Here is the link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScfosctbT-JrB1ExTswCxabzk6cxv2LM8_gbfuj3dm-AyfmYw/viewform?usp=sf_link

● RETURNING EMPTY PRINT CARTRIDGES

Please drop off empty printer cartridges to Mr. Rappa in Room 244.  Leave outside door before 3:00 pm if the door is locked.  The money we get back will be donated to the Glen Sears Scholarship Fund.

● CLASS TRIP REMINDERS

⏮ Trips must be approved 3 weeks in advance - No trips in January & June

⏮ A Master Calendar of trips will be posted in the Weekly Bulletin with a description of the trip and grade level

⏮ Teachers cannot veto student participation on trips, but students must understand they are responsible for all makeup work / Do not penalize students for missing class due to a school trip

● FALCON HEALTH CENTER PHONE ISSUES / CONTACT #

There is a glitch with the Falcon Health Center phone system, so unfortunately the only way to get in touch with the Falcon Health Center is to call directly using the number (646) 559-9351.  Their phone system is being serviced and we hope to get you a direct extension soon.

● CANNOT LEAVE STUDENTS UNATTENDED

You cannot leave students unattended anywhere in the building – a classroom or office, the Auditorium or Cafeteria – if you have to leave a particular area, ask the students to leave with you.

● PROTOCOLS FOR RESPONDING TO CLASSROOM INCIDENTS

In the event of an incident in your classroom that creates disruption (student is defiant and / or uncooperative) but is NOT A THREAT to student and/or staff safety, the following protocol should be

followed:

□ Classroom management, i.e., using your skills as an educator to move on from the situation, followed by

□ A phone call to your Supervisor informing them of the incident and the steps you have taken to address the matter, followed by

□ A referral to the Peace Center and/or the Guidance Department via Google Docs., followed by

□ Outreach to parents, informing them of their child’s misbehavior, and request for family support to correct the matter.  

In the event of an incident in your classroom that involves an immediate THREAT to student and/or staff safety, the following protocol should be followed:

□ A phone call to the Peace Center (x1491 or x1431) informing available staff of the incident and requesting assistance, followed by

□ A phone call to School Safety (x1341) informing them of the location and nature of the incident and requesting assistance, followed by

□ A call to your Supervisor informing them of the incident and the steps you have taken to address it.

● PARENT INFORMATION LISTING

Familiarize yourself with our student list with all their Parent Contact information 

https://docs.google.com/a/hsfi.us/spreadsheets/d/1yEo3ZbWPZqU_4C7Tr6HaPRevPjr28h5N5q1_PAhW0Q4/edit?usp=sharing

If you get an updated phone number and/or email of a student that is different from the information in this document, email AP Danielle Silva at DSilva3@schools.nyc.gov – include Student Name & 9 Digit ID - with the correct, updated contact information.  This list will also be added to the Staff Homepage

● KEEPING TRACK OF STUDENT ACTIVITY / COMMUNICATING WITH STUDENTS ABOUT SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

Tracking Activity

In our effort to understand how ALL our students are doing, we need to know how much students are participating in activities around the building – this includes:

TUTORING / CLUBS & ACTIVITIES / PSAL SPORTS – PRACTICES & GAMES / ESL ACADEMY

MAKE-UP LABS / NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY PEER TUTORING / USING THE COMPUTER LABS

Use this link to keep track of student attendance in these activities - https://sites.google.com/a/hsfi.us/hsfi-staff-portal/attendance-for-student-activities

Doing this is mandatory if you oversee these activities and needs to be done every time you meet with students.  You must be signed in to your own hsfi.us account when you do this.  Contact Shannon Kohm with questions at skohm@school.nyc.gov, or ext. 5311

Communication

Please make sure that you communicate with our students about anything going on in the school – a club meeting, sports game or program opportunity – you can do this by including it in our Daily Announcements email / Jupiter message – here is the procedure for submitting this information:

(1) Go to the HSFI Staff Home page - https://sites.google.com/a/hsfi.us/hsfi-staff-portal/home?pli=1 

(2) From there use the Announcement form link on the left hand side of the page - all announcements should be requested by 3:00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

WEEKLY PARENT COMMUNICATION

● FASHIONABLE TIMES BLOG

Just like we maintain a blog for staff, we maintain a weekly blog for HSFI Parents that includes a weekly message from me.  The link is:

http://hsfifashionabletimes.blogspot.com/

STUDENT INFORMATION RESOURCE

● NYC DOE STUDENT PROFILES

The NYC Department of Education has created a central location to access key student information – www.nycenet.edu/studentprofile

You have been emailed a one page summary of this resource.  Here are the key categories of the ‘Student Profile’:

● Grades – current and historical report card grades

● Assessments - previous Regents scores

● Attendance - current and historical daily attendance including lateness

● Schedule – students’ current schedule

● Details – student biographical and demographic information including Special Education and English Language Learner (ELL) status

● Enrollment – enrollment history including all NYC schools attended

● Guardians – all the adults on the students’ biographical record including contact information and preferred language

STAFF MEMBERS WHO SOARR

The SOARRing staff showcased below come from nominations from their supervisors and their colleagues.  You can nominate a colleague by using the email: PBISDataTeam@hsfi.us

Please include the reason why your colleague has SOARRed!

CONGRATULATIONS to MR. CARRANZA for winning HSFI’s UFT CTE Teacher of the Year – the ceremony was last Thursday at the UFT headquarters with many of his colleagues in attendance to support him.  Thank you to MS. ADAMCZYK for the photo

Thank you to all the staff members who have contributed to our best practices sharing - MS. RUFF & MS. HERRICK - the sharing spirit at HSFI is alive and well! 

Thank you to all the HSFI Staff members who made Respect for All Week so successful – this group includes MS. PADRON, MS. WEISS, MS. STAMBOULY, MS. MOLLOY, MS. PARISSE, MS. RODRIGUEZ, MS. TROTTA, MS. SAN JORGE, MS. NAGHI, MS. STARKS, MS. SILVA, MR. RAU & MR. RASCHILLA.

Thank you to our 10^th grade English teachers - MS. BAILEY, MS. McGOLDRICK, MS. THOMAS & MS. BOHNER along with MS. NAGHI & MS. DAHILL for bringing their classes to the school’s annual Valentine's Day RAPP Week in the library during Respect for All week.  Students were exposed to provoking presentations on relationships and abuse; they also heard about books on relationships that they were able to check out from the library.

Thank you to MS. DUCK for supporting her colleagues by organizing the WISE! Financial Literacy diagnostic for the Economics classes and setting up the laptops for multiple sections of the exam.

Thank you to MS. THOMAS for staying at school until after 7pm to assist a student in crisis.

Thank you to MS. BOHNER for assisting the YABC program in preparing for their administration of the NYSESLAT exam

Thank you to MS. HERZOG for her efforts in executing this year’s teacher's choice program.

Thank you to MS. CHIN for processing all the school’s supply requests.

Thank you to MS. HUSTED for organizing and distributing the summer youth applications for our special education students.

Thank you to MS. CHAVEZ for connecting our students with Teen Fashion week.

Thank you to MS. COLLINS for volunteering to organize the Fashion Show models and doing such a wonderful job of it; for preparing and submitting student work to P.S. Art (exhibition at the Met. Museum); for organizing and helping to get our ArtsConnection partnership started for the year; and for getting students into the Educational Video Center program.

Thank you to MS. BALMIR & MS. CARTER for getting the Swarovski and Kleinfeld industry partnership programs going this year.

Thank you to MS. VACCARO for taking students to FIT to work with college level students on a box/product critique and ensuring that our partnership with FIT grows even stronger.

VTODs FOR THE WEEK

February 26, Math: Monday

Derivative: (n) 1. A substance made from another substance.  Something   that comes from something else. The athlete tested positive for a steroid derivative called DHEA. Tofu is one of many soybean derivatives.  2 In mathematics, the derivative is a way to represent the rate of change, that is- the amount by which a function is changing at one given point.

February 27, Science: Tuesday

Trait: (n) 1. A distinguishing quality: Rather than being a constant personality trait, our willpower fluctuates throughout the day. 2.  An inherited characteristic:   Physical traits such as hair or eye color, are easier to understand as being inherited since there is a usually a clear genetic explanation.

February 28, CTE: Wednesday

 Intensity: (n) 1.The degree or strength of something. “The system in some areas was clearly overwhelmed by the magnitude and intensity of this fire.” he said.  2. Intensity is a property of color which refers to its strength and vividness; for example, we may describe the color blue as "royal" (bright, rich, vibrant) or "dull" (grayed).

March 1, ELA: Thursday

Fallacy: (n) A mistaken idea or false belief based on incorrect information or faulty reasoning. Hasty generalization is a logical fallacy defined as making assumptions about a whole group or range of cases based on an inadequate sample. An example would be, “The person who cut me off is from South Dakota; therefore all South Dakotans are jerks.”

March 2, Social Studies: Friday

Socioeconomic: (adj.) a combination of social and economic factors.  One goal of genuine public access is to secure prompt and appropriate EMS care, regardless of socioeconomic status, age, or special needs. A person’s socioeconomic status can be negatively affected by religious, ethnic, and gender-based discrimination

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION EVENTS

Our Alumni Association continues to fund raise to raise money for scholarships for our HSFI students – here are the links to the next set of Alumni events – ‘Paint Night’ and ‘Salsa & Zumba’ class – we need your participation to help them succeed.

Paint Night - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/paint-night-fundraiser-tickets-42156877355?aff=es2

Salsa & Zumba’ class - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/latin-groove-salsa-zumba-fundraiser-tickets-42156587488?aff=eac2

ADDITIONS TO THE BLOG

If you are interested in adding something to the Weekly Bulletin Blog, please email Angela Ianniello – AIanniello@schools.nyc.gov – by Wednesday of that week.  Submissions emailed after this deadline will be placed in the following week’s Blog.