Sunday, October 28, 2018

WEEKLY BULLETIN for Week Beginning 10.28.18



CALL TO ACTION

FIRST TIME DISTRIBUTING REPORT CARDS DURING 3RD PERIOD CLASSES
As part of our efforts to utilize our time as efficiently as possible, moving forward we will be distributing Report Cards during 3rd Period classes using the extra time in that class period to perform this task.  The distribution of first marking period report cards will take place this Monday, October 29.
If you teach a 3rd period class, please distribute the report cards towards the end of the class period.  DO NOT distribute report cards at the beginning of class – you will lose a significant portion of your class for that class period if you do.
Please do not just hand them out in the last minute of class as students are walking out, please give them five minutes to soak in their report card grades and reflect on their performance.  It is an excellent opportunity to have them think about what they were doing well to deserve the grades that they received or what they needed to work on to improve their grades.

PREPARE FOR SUPERINTENDENT VISIT THIS WEDNESDAY
Our new Superintendent, Vivian Orlen, will be here this coming Wednesday, October 31, for one of her two official visits to HSFI.  Superintendent Orlen will be evaluating the school on our progress with our school goals – that every HSFI community member is CARED FOR and CHALLENGED WITH RIGOROUS INSTRUCTION.
With respect to the CARED FOR goal, I have attached the SEL best practices sheet that includes suggestions from you with a list of strategies used to check in on how students are feeling and as a way to gather information to support students.
With respect to the CHALLENGED WITH RIGOROUS INSTRUCTION goal, Superintendent Orlen has been clear to me about what she does when she walks into a classroom – she looks over the class in attempt to find a student not engaged in the lesson and then sits next to them so she can find out what is going on in the class.  As we do every day, we need to strive for challenging activities that are differentiated for the variety of learners we have in class.
In merging the two goals, please focus your distribution of Fashion Dollars to students challenging themselves and giving effort towards the completion of rigorous tasks.

PARTICIPATE IN & ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN SPIRIT WEEK
This week is School Spirit week!  Monday is Flag Day; Tuesday is Neon Day; Wednesday is Halloween where students can dress up; Thursday is Decades Day; Friday is Twin Day; and Saturday night is a school dance. 




FASHION DOLLAR FRIDAY GEAR WINNER
Congratulations to JUSTIN EGAN who is our Fashion Dollar Friday Gear winner for this past week.  We encourage all staff to show off their HSFI spirit by wearing HSFI gear every Friday.  If you do wear spirit gear, please sign that you wore the gear on the sheet that will be located next to the sign-in sheet in the mailbox room.  See Ms. Vaccaro about collecting your FLY Gear.




THIS WEEK’S CALENDAR:
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
OCTOBER 29

*Regular Bell Schedule

Distribution of Report Cards during 3rd Period classes

The Writing Revolution Professional Learning

SPIRIT WEEK
Begins

PM Supervisor:
M Frank (Rm. 121)

30

*Regular Bell Schedule

School Implementation Team @ 2:30pm

PM Supervisor:
K Boulamaali (Rm. 703)


31

*Regular Bell Schedule

Superintendent Visit to HSFI

PM Supervisor:
N Moore (Rm. 228)
NOVEMBER 1

*Regular Bell Schedule

PM Supervisor:
B McGuinness (Rm. 329)
2

*Regular Bell Schedule

PLC Reflection Form Due

Student Town Halls
Periods 4-7

PM Supervisor:
S Rau (Rm. 829)

NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR:
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
NOVEMBER 5

*Regular Bell Schedule

Department Meetings

PM Supervisor:
A Rodrigues (Rm. 515)
6

*PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY

No Students

Teachers on a 8:40am-3:30pm schedule

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) Meet

7

*Regular Bell Schedule

9th Grade Assembly
Period 4

PM Supervisor:
K Boulamaali (Rm. 703)
8

*Regular Bell Schedule

PM Supervisor:
M Frank (Rm. 121)
9

*Regular Bell Schedule

PM Supervisor:
A Rodrigues (Rm. 515)


UPDATED PARENT CONTACT LIST
Here is the most updated spreadsheet for students’ contact information.  The spreadsheet has three different tabs of contact information;
1) Primary phone
2) Email
3) Cell phone number
This list will be updated each week through our School Messenger system. If you have trouble contacting a parent or have additional contact information, please reach out to Assistant Principal Danielle Silva at DSilva@hsfi.us
Here is the link to the spreadsheet:




STUDENT ACTIVITIES
□ Chaperones are needed for November 3rd Dance

KEEPING TRACK OF STUDENT ACTIVITY / COMMUNICATING WITH STUDENTS ABOUT SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
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:
(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.




IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONAL REMINDERS

OUR INSTRUCTIONAL FOCUS FOR 2018-19 & BEYOND
□ Every student feels cared for
□ Every student feels challenged

SECOND WRITING REVOLUTION PD THIS MONDAY
We will run our second TWR PD session on Monday 10/29. All CTE, ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies and Spanish teachers should attend a one-period workshop period 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 in RM 821.

Teachers should bring:
1) The white The Writing Revolution book

2) One or two examples of teacher-created activities with student responses for the October skills:
Because, but, so
Subordinating Clauses +Conjunctions

3) Content (text, worksheet, assessment...) they will use soon and want to develop as a TWR task.

4) A Chromebook if they want to work on a computer

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING RESOURCES
Our SEL coordinators wanted to share with you an amazing new SEL resource:
On this website, you will find resources that include short SEL centered activities that you can incorporate into your everyday lessons.  Once on the homepage, go under Resources - Educators. On that page chose "Explore our social and emotional (SEL) activities".  Once you are there, you can choose which emotion words you want to focus on for that lesson. You can also find great resources to build your lessons around.

EVALUATIVE OBSERVATIONS CONTINUE THIS WEEK
Evaluative Observations continue this week

TUTORING FROM OUR NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY STUDENTS IS AVAILABLE
National Honor Society tutoring has begun after school in the room 201 Computer Lab.  The tutoring will take place daily during both 9th and 10 periods.  National Honor Society junior and senior tutors can assist students with English, Math, Science and History.

FIRST MONDAY PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES – INTERVISITATIONS BEGIN
Thank you for your participation in the first PLC. A reminder to visit your team member and fill out the reflection form by November 2 – here is the link to record your brief reflections on your group's strategy:

PARENT ENGAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES
Keep in mind the main ways that we maintain high levels of Parent Engagement:
#1 - Keeping Jupiter up-to-date so that students and parents know where students stand in your class
#2 – You are contractually required to set aside 1 specific period set aside for Parent Engagement where you make calls and emails to families of at-risk students.  If a student is failing, you need to make verbal contact with that family
#3 - Check your DOE Email everyday - Not HSFI email – you should forward your HSFI emails to your DOE email.  If a parent emails you, they should expect a response in a timely manner

IMPORTANT HOMEWORK REMINDERS
#1 – Please follow our policy of ‘No New HW Wednesdays’
#2 – Do not give a HW assignment unless you will be giving meaningful feedback back to students – a check or score at the top of a paper does not mean much to students.  This is especially true for honors and Advanced Placement courses where the amount and difficulty of readings and assignments is high

IMPORTANT REMINDERS FROM THE SPECIAL EDUCATION OFFICE
We in room 329 wanted to provide everyone with a reminder regarding students with IEPs and SESIS as well as the sections of the IEP, which you may find most helpful when planning your instruction. While reviewing the IEP you may notice your Teacher Form responses or information you shared during the meeting- this is a great example of how your insight helps us to create an authentic, student specific IEP. In addition to asking a special educator, you can easily determine which students in your class have IEP's by reviewing your class roster. Students who are placed in ICT classes have the letter at the end of their official (ex-45P) 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 at this time will not appear when you log-in to SESIS. Teachers who work with these students will now have access through SESIS.

This year we will continue to distribute an electronic standards-based Teachers Form. 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.

Our monthly SIT meeting addresses concerns surrounding Special Education (placement, initials, etc.) and is announced in advance in the Weekly Notes. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. If you are interested in becoming a regular member just let me know. Please feel free to stop by room 329 if you have any questions and thank you for your continued support of our students. Our SIT meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 30 at 2:30pm.

GUIDELINES TO MAINTAIN SCHOOL CLIMATE
Pass needed to go anywhere outside of your classroom / specific Falcon Health Center pass
No passes first 10 minutes of class (unless emergency)
No passes last 10 minutes of class (unless emergency)
Electronic Equipment for educational purposes allowed / all other purposes should be a referral / Leave confiscating to supervisors and deans / NO CHARGING PHONES
WHERE CAN STUDENTS GO WHEN NOT IN CLASS?
Before 1st Period – Cafeteria, Student Computer Lab (Room 201), Hallways 
Once Period 1 begins – students cannot be in the hallways – can go to the Cafeteria, Student Computer Lab, Classroom under teacher supervision
Lunch Periods (4-7) – Cafeteria, Student Lounge, Library (except 7th period), Student Computer Lab, Classroom under teacher supervision
Students waiting for afterschool activities - Student Computer Lab, Library, Classroom under teacher supervision
YOU CANNOT ALLOW A STUDENT TO STAY IN YOUR CLASSROOM / OFFICE WHEN YOU ARE NOT THERE – ASK THEM TO LEAVE & COME BACK




OPERATIONAL NEED TO KNOW
CHECK YOUR DOE & HSFI EMAILS EVERYDAY


BULLETIN BOARDS
We are in the process of taking down material on bulletin boards around the building that are out of date.
We will be reminding as well as reassigning clubs, teams and departments their bulletin boards, so that the boards can used to highlight the activities taking place with each group.  We want our students to know all the amazing opportunities at HSFI through the bulletin boards, TV screens, website, social media sites, email and Jupiter messages.  Just a reminder to not post any fliers around the building on the walls – please bring them to Room 819 and we will have our Marketing team post them around the building on the bulletin boards in between the elevators on each side of the building.
We will help make signs for your club, team or activity that is aligned to all the marketing material we are using – to make this request, please fill out the link found below 2 weeks prior to the due date in which you need it by.

HEALTH BENEFITS TRANSFER PERIOD
2018 Health Benefits Transfer Period - October 1 - November 16 (Extended)
Submit an application to:  Change carrier, add/drop optional rider, add/drop dependents
Health Benefits Buy-Out Waiver Program - September 24 - October 31
Incentive to waive benefits if covered by a non-city health plan.
Forms and additional information on the DOE HR Connect website.

TEACHER'S CHOICE
Make purchases August 1, 2018 - January 13, 2019.  Keep receipts for eligible purchases. 
Funding same as previous year:  Teachers allocated $250.00 
November 30 - Initial distribution of funds via regular paycheck.
More information available on DOE Employee Hub.     

SMOKING OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL
People are smoking cigarettes right at the back door of the school on 25th Street, and the odor wafts up to 244.  Often the smell is strong when the windows are open.  Do not smoke near the building, so that non-smokers in the building are not exposed to toxic fumes.

SMARTBOARD SURVEY
If you have a Smart Board in your classroom, please fill out this brief survey so we know the condition of the Smart Board -  https://goo.gl/forms/uYjdJEgzpY9Ms1Oz2
This is not a service request just give us the current status of the Smartboard in the room.  We are always looking to add more Smart Boards to classrooms, but there are budget constraints.  We want to make sure the existing Smart Boards are working.

AIR CONDITIONER SURVEY
If you have an Air Conditioner(s) in your classroom or office, please fill out this brief survey so we know the condition of the AC(s) – we are fully aware that there are some spaces that need ACs and we are working on rectifying this - https://goo.gl/forms/FB5hThN9PlkYKT6W2
This is not a custodial request just give us the current status of the AC in the room.

TECHNOLOGY REQUESTS
Depending on the severity of the request.  Expect a one to two days before fixing or notification of the issue.

CUSTODIAN REQUESTS
Depending on the severity of the request.  Expect a one to two days before fixing or notification of the issue.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
Here are the links to the Emergency Preparedness videos.  This series of safety videos are useful tools that demonstrate how Building Response Teams operate, and how school buildings use the General Response Protocols during an emergency. Please take the time to watch the following videos to ensure that you are well equipped in the event of an emergency.

Full Safety Preparedness video: Vimeo.com/nycschools/safetypreparedness

Assembly Card video: Vimeo.com/nycschools/assemblycard



Shelter In video: Vimeo.com/nycschools/shelterin

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.




CLASS TRIP REMINDERS
As we start the school year, I wanted to share with staff the field trip guidelines that we put into place last year.  All of us should plan to adhere to these guidelines – for staff planning the trips and staff receiving the trip requests.  The only exception that we ask of everyone is to be flexible with last minute trips that are brought to us by our Advisory Board and industry partners – too often they share with us the details in a last minute fashion.  Thank you in advance for the cooperation!
⏮ 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

CLASS TRIPS THIS WEEK:
10/29/18 – 8:30am – 10:30am.    Ms. Youngblood is taking 20 students to the Garment Center to research and select textiles for Senior Fashion Show.
11/1/18 – 11:30am – 2:30pm.      Ms. Carter is taking 25 student going to FIT for educational enrichment focused on STEAM




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:




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
Thank you to all the HSFI staff that have been shouting out their colleagues on a daily basis through Basecamp – it is inspiring to read them and keep them coming.
Here are some additional SOARRing staff that are going beyond the call of duty for HSFI!

Thank you to THE ENTIRE HSFI STAFF for allowing HSFI Family Visitation Day to take place and welcoming HSFI families into the school and our classrooms.  I’m sure it is a great feeling for our families to feel welcomed into the school.

Thank you to THE HSFI STAFF THAT PARTICIPATED IN COLLEGE GEAR DAY – the day celebrated the beginning of College Application Week for our seniors.  The day hopefully had a motivating effect on our seniors who are beginning to work on their college applications and got our 9th, 10th and 11th graders thinking about the college process.

Congratulations to MR. STAMPONE (Early Career) & MR. LEE (Master Teacher) who have been awarded MƒA Fellowships and part of a community of just over 1,000 public school math and science teachers across the city.

Thank you to MS. McKEON for her work in putting together an application for additional funds for our college access efforts.

Thank you to MS. RICCI who has worked so hard to ensure the success and smooth administration of the NOCTI exam. Nearly 200 students took their very first practical for the Fashion Design NOCTI last week.

Nominated by MS. RICCI, the following people need to be thanked for their contributions towards the execution of these Fashion Design NOCTI exams: Thank you to MS. BATTS, MS. BALMIR, MS. JOHAR, MS. CISSE, MS. CHAVEZ, MS. PARISSE, MS. RIVIERE, MS. SEIFERT & MS. YOUNGBLOOD for being exam proctors; Thank you to MS. STAMBOULY, MS. POWELL & MR. CARRANZA for opening their classrooms to any students who were late to the exam; Thank you to MS. ROJAS for providing students with any additional support beyond class time - she even created a Google Classroom for students with easily accessible digital resources; Thank you to MS. JOCELYN for ensuring that all machines were in working order and stepping in to help students with machine issues during the exam; Thank you to MS. HERZOG for arranging any and all needed coverages; Thank you to MS. KLEPACKI for setting up the blue sheets based on testing rooms and all of your support in making sure that our attendance records are accurate; Thank you to MS. McGUINNESS for communicating any updates / newly issued student testing accommodations.  We were able to ensure that all of our students received what they needed for success on exam day and preparation; Thank you to MR. STAMPONE for creating digital exam invitations/reminders and distributing electronically to all student exam participants; and Thank you to MS. CHIN for taking care of all testing material/ supply purchase orders.

Thank you to MS. LISSAUER, MR. EGAN, MS. SEVERINO-NORTMAN & MS. DUCK for leading focus groups with our new student focus group advisers. We framed our conversations with students around the following questions and received very useful insight. "In what ways are you challenged in your classes? How could we challenge you even more? When do you feel connected to the activities in your classroom?"

Thank you to MS. VACCARO for helping to clean out and organize the basement fabric room.

Thank you to MS. LEVINE for working hard to support and prepare her leave replacement!

Thank you to MS. DAWSON & MS. McGOLDRICK for giving TWR assistance to a colleague.

Thank you to MS. KONO & MS. LEVENSTEIN for collaborating on an AT evaluation for a student.




VTODs FOR THE WEEK
SOCIAL EMOTIONAL Theme
October 29: Monday
drained (adj.)  deprived of strength or vitality. "Whatever happened drained all my power," Jenn said. " English fans continued to applaud the players, many of whom looked physically and mentally drained.
October 30: Tuesday
alienate 1. (v) to break a bond of affection or loyalty. He had alienated most of his colleagues because of his bad temper.  2. (adj.) socially disoriented; estranged; “Forced from their communities into urban and industrial environments, modern men and women were left alienated and rootless.”
October 31: Wednesday
dismayed (adj.) Dismayed describes feeling appalled or distressed.   “Hope and Coffee” -- a not for profit business helping addicts recover-- is the brainchild of a business leader who’s been sober for more than 35 years and became dismayed as the opioid epidemic gripped her hometown.
November 1: Thursday
crestfallen (adj.) brought low in spirit. “When she told me that she didn't think she was the right coach for me and turned me down, I was crestfallen.”
November 2: Friday
remorseful (adj.) feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses. “You do appear to be remorseful,” the judge told the defendant but added that he would address the question of taking away the defendant’s conviction in 12 months, at the end of his probation.




LIBRARY NEWS & NOTES FROM MS. DAHILL
1. Congratulations to Alyssa Wu, Library Leader Sophomore was accepted to the prestigious Urban Partnership Scholars Program for Games Design. They meet every Saturday. She is learning Unity and how to be a game designer. She are going to have some competition at the Games4Change Summit in July @ Parsons.  UP's winner last year received a full scholarship to NYU for her game: Date and Skate. Alyssa is a member of HSFI's Gaming club.  Check out winning games from last year! 

2. PBS Great American Read announced the winners: 100 best books voted on by America. The winner was To Kill a Mockingbird.  Check out the list.




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.