WEEKLY BULLETIN for Week Beginning 3.19.18

CALL TO ACTION

● FILL OUT THE NYC DOE STAFF SURVEY IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY – THE DEADLINE IS THIS FRIDAY, MARCH 23

Everyone wants the best students possible at HSFI – we need to show our prospective families and students what HSFI is all about – what everyone looks at for this information are the results of the DOE survey.  A high percentage of responses looks impressive to the world – a low percentage looks very poorly for us.

● EXECUTE THE META-MOMENT

Now that the entire staff has been through the ‘Meta-Moment’ professional development, it is time to use it in your classes and offices.  The ‘Meta-Moment’ is focused on you imagining your ‘best self’ and then thinking about this ‘best self’ before responding to stress.  All this with culminate on Thursday, March 29^th (the day before Spring Break) where we will have ‘Dress Like Your Best Self’ day – our hope is that all students and staff participate in ‘Dress Like Your Best Self’ day.  I believe that this time spent on Social Emotional Learning is time well spent and will pay off handsomely in getting our students ready for college, career and the real world!

● IF YOU SEE OR SENSE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING

The school shooting in Florida reminds 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. 

● ATTEND OUR VARIETY SHOW THIS FRIDAY

I am very excited to announce that HSFI’s version of ‘America’s Got Talent’ is this Friday, March 23 with our annual Variety Show.  This event showcases the performing arts talents of our students including singing and dancing.

● SAVE THE DATE – INDUSTRY FASHION SHOW DATE SET

Tuesday, May 22 is the date of our Industry Fashion Show – it would be great to have a huge contingent of staff in attendance.

● 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:

The NYC DOE sends me weekly updates on our response rates to the anonymous DOE Learning Environment staff survey.

As of last Thursday, we are at 72 % (81 staff members) who have filled out the survey – it would send a strong message if we got 100% participation on the survey - if you have not already done so, please take a few minutes to complete the anonymous DOE Learning Environment staff survey online – your supervisor should have 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
MARCH 19 *Regular Bell Schedule STOP EVERYTHING & REFLECT during Period 3 PM Supervisor: D Silva (Rm. 125)	20 *Regular Bell Schedule Learning Partners Program Visit to Fort Hamilton HS PM Supervisor: S Rau (Rm. 829)	21 *SPECIAL Schedule PSAT / SAT DAY School Leadership Team Meeting 4:00pm – Rm. 821 Parents Association Meeting 6:00pm – Rm. 829 PM Supervisor: K Boulamaali (Rm. 703)	22 *Regular Bell Schedule PM Supervisor: S Kohm (Rm. 531)	23 *Regular Bell Schedule VARIETY SHOW Doors Open at 4:30 pm Staff Town Halls Periods 4-7 Room 821 PM Supervisor: J Tallone (Rm. 201)

NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR:

MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
MARCH 26 *Regular Bell Schedule STOP EVERYTHING & REFLECT during Period 3 PM Supervisor: K Boulamaali (Rm. 703)	27 *Regular Bell Schedule PM Supervisor: M Frank (Rm. 121)	28 *Regular Bell Schedule PM Supervisor: A Rodrigues (Rm. 515)	29 *Regular Bell Schedule DRESS LIKE YOUR BEST SELF DAY PM Supervisor: N Moore (Rm. 228)	30 *NO SCHOOL SPRING BREAK BEGINS

CAREER & TECHNICAL SPRING SHOWCASE EVENTS CALENDAR

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
Tuesday, May 22	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 Math Department, Ms. Chung, Ms. Schlein, and Ms. Garcia created a TWR activity about factoring quadratics using algebra tiles.  The activity involved an expanded sentence regarding an error made by one of the two students shown.  This was a wonderful way to illustrate the use of manipulatives in the Algebra classroom.

Algebra TWR

In the English department, Ms. McGoldrick created a TWR handout that explicitly stated the reason for each activity. This will help give purpose to the activity for our students.

TWR Handout

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 this Monday, March 19 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!

PSAT / SAT DAY THIS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21

This Wednesday, March 21 is PSAT / SAT Day.  This is a day when all 10^th graders will be taking the PSAT exam while all of the 11^th graders will be taking their SAT exam.  A majority of our 9^th graders that have handed in their college trip permission slips will be attending college visits.  The remaining 9^th graders will be joining the 12^th graders to watch a special presentation of the film 'Girls Rising' in the school auditorium.  All students report to school at 8:00 am on Wednesday.  There are no regular classes on this day.

PREPARATION FOR PSAT / SAT DAY – ONLINE TRAINING REQUIRED

Teachers need to complete this online SAT training by Monday March 19th. 

1. Create and/or login to a College Board account

2. Select SAT School Day where they will be prompted to put in the HSFI's zip code (10011), type in the school's name, and the day of testing (3/21).

3. They should choose associate supervisor to access the training.

4. Fill out and hand in completion training form to their AP -- see attached. 

https://account.collegeboard.org/login/login?appId=346&DURL=https%3A%2F%2Fprofessionaltraining.collegeboard.org%2Fproftrain%2Flogin%3Fep_mid%3D11371027%26ep_rid%3D206886936&ep_mid=11430455&ep_rid=192431244

COOL THINGS AT HSFI
13 HSFI students accompanied by Ms. Sostre volunteered at the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon - they met Ms. Sostre at 5:45 am and did everything from setting up the water and Gatorade; picking up cups; sweeping; raking leaves; and cheering on the runners that included Ms. Parisse who was running the half marathon.  The students were Tayana Clark, Valerie Rodriguez, Marylou Andrades, Kaileen Balbi, Keyla Yepez, Yamilett Ramirez, Dayzie Cruz, Bipashyana Shrestha, John Edwards, Joel Torres, Valerie Mercedes, Naomi Torres and Jaila Taylor.  Thank you Ms. Sostre for sharing this with the HSFI coommunity.

EXCITING NEWS FOR 2018-19 – TEEN CHOICE GUIDANCE SERVICES

I am pleased to announce that the community based organization – Teen Choice – will be at HSFI starting in the 2018-19 school choice.  Teen Choice will have 4 social workers on duty daily to work with our guidance department to support our struggling students.  In addition, Teen Choice will have health educators coming into the building to deliver a sex education curriculum to our health students.  We certainly welcome this help!

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

Evaluative Observations – Week of March 19

□ Observation Cycle #4

Intervisitations - – Week of April 30

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

● SPRING MARKING PERIODS

□ 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

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. Teachers with questions regarding D75 students can reach out to Ms. McGuinness & Ms Smith-Brown.

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. The participation of a general education and special education teacher is a mandatory part of the IEP meeting and we appreciate all teachers who participate.

OPERATIONAL NEED TO KNOW

● CHECK YOUR DOE & HSFI EMAILS EVERYDAY

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

● EARLY MORNING TIMES FOR STAFF & STUDENTS

To enhance our safety and security at HSFI, we are instituting early morning times for staff and students to enter the building.

The earliest time staff will be allowed in the building is 6:30 am – by this time, there will be a security agent at the front desk.

The earliest time students will be allowed in the building is 7:20 am – by this time, there will be a supervisor(s) in the building.

There will be exceptions made to the student time for special events and trips – these exception requests should be made to AP G. Raschilla and Ms. Ianniello in Room 819.

● 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!

Thank you to all the staff members who have contributed to our best practices sharing - MS. SCHLEIN, MS. GARCIA, MS. CHUNG & MS. McGOLDRICK - the sharing spirit at HSFI is alive and well! 

Thank you to ALL THE HSFI TEACHING STAFF for agreeing to have Family Visitation Days for our families – the families that attend love it and every HSFI family is appreciative of the invitation.

Thank you to MS. CHAVEZ & MS. JOSEPH for assisting in the preparations and execution of Spring Family Visitation Day.

Thank you to THE ENTIRE HSFI STAFF for all your cooperation in making the execution of the National School Walkout go so smoothly.

Thank you to MS. STAMBOULY, MS. PARISSE, MS. PADRON & MS. MOLLY for running the Social Emotional Learning ‘Meta Moment’ professional development with the entire staff.

Thank you to MS. KASS for assisting with translation of a family letter,

Thank you to MS. BERROA, MS. RUSSELL, MS. NURSE & MS. HENEY for administering Special Education testing through their classes

Thank you to MS. KONO for collaborating with outside speech providers to determine best services for our students.

VTODs FOR THE WEEK

March 19, Math: Monday,

Similar: (adj.) 1 sharing some qualities but not exactly the same.  A second scientific study produced remarkably similar but not identical results.  2.  (math) Identical in shape, although not necessarily the same size. Two triangles are similar if the only difference is size and possibly the need to turn or flip one around.

March 20, Science: Tuesday

Metamorphism: (n) a change in the minerals or the arrangement of minerals in a rock by natural means, such as pressure, heat, and water. (Adj. metamorphic).  Erosion can help bring metamorphic rocks to the Earth’s surface.

March 22, ELA: Thursday

Authoritative: (adj. 1. having impressive knowledge about a subject. An authoritative source on jazz is Wynton Marsalis, a trumpeter, composer, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. 2.  Based on the best, most complete and most reliable information; To ensure your research is done well, be thorough in gathering relevant information from authoritative print and digital sources.

March 23, Social Studies: Friday

Incorporate: (v) to include something as part of a group, system, or plan.  If people can find a way to gradually incorporate healthy changes into their lives, they're going to see the doctor less. These new buildings, designed to be more energy efficient, use recycled materials and incorporate natural lighting and other green features.

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.