Monday, December 31, 2018

WEEKLY BULLETIN for Week Beginning 1.2.19



CALL TO ACTION

HAVE AN AWESOME 2019!!!
Health & Happiness to the entire HSFI Community!!!

TWO & A HALF WEEKS LEFT IN THE FALL TERM
We are in the homestretch of the Fall term with two and a half weeks of classes until Regents.  Make sure students understand that the grades they receive at the end of January are the grades that colleges and universities will see.  Encourage students to take advantage of staff tutoring and tutoring from our National Honor Society students.

HELP US COLLECT FASHION DOLLAR TOKENS
Please encourage students to deposit their Fashion Dollar tokens.  We need Fashion Dollar tokens as we are running out of them.  We have decided to allow Fashion Dollar balances to carry over until next school year IF students deposit their tokens.  Students do not need to worry about their balances going to ZERO.  We want them back, so we can give them back to students so they spend them on rewards and privileges!!




INFORMATION TO GET INVOLVED IN DISRUPTING INEQUITY WORK
Thank you for your ongoing participation and engagement in our Disrupting Inequity Professional Development Series. As you know, we were engaged in a 3-day instructional rounds process where we centered student voice and refined our vision for equity. The rounds combined with the Panorama survey results that were shared with you led to the development of 5 Action Plans that align to the school-wide goals of ensuring that our students feel cared for and challenged.

We are seeking staff members to get further involved in this Race & Equity work as part of our partnership with Harvard University. Many of you shared a fear that this work would not be sustainable. Here is your opportunity to get involved and make the work sustainable!

Below is a brief description of the 5 Action Plans that we want to pursue to improve students' feeling of belongingness and celebrate our school's diversity.

Plan 1: Implement Culturally Relevant Traditions in Classrooms (raise cultural awareness and student ownership of the classroom).

Plan 2: Re-imagining Boy’s Group (support our young men socially and academically).

Plan 3: School wide Implementation of Norms in Classrooms and Shared Spaces (systemic norms support students belongingness in all classrooms and spaces and increase student leadership and participation).

Plan 4: Create a System for Sharing Promising Practices Around Equity (to build coherence across the school and share success stories).

Plan 5: Student Empowerment & Leadership Opportunities (In order to empower students and foster leadership opportunities in the classroom, learning environment and the development of school culture we need to build a stronger sense of community in and outside of the classroom)

For more details of the plans – click on the following link:     https://docs.google.com/document/d/12nzL7VnQTNKe6vnm1SiqoFHg6rBoKuOvMTKtcdRN38o/edit?usp=sharing

To sign-up to participate in one of these Action Plan teams, use the following link: https://goo.gl/forms/cIsg9BCugRsdBMIP2

For more information, email Assistant Principal A. Rodrigues at rides@hsfi.us




SING – WIZARD OF OZ
Please make plans to support Ms. Vega and our students for this year’s SING production.  This year’s production is inspired by The Wizard of Oz.  The shows is on Friday, January 18.




THIS SCHOOL WEEK’S CALENDAR:
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
DECEMBER 31

NO SCHOOL
JANUARY 1

NO SCHOOL
2

*Regular Bell Schedule

SCHOOL REOPENS

PM Supervisor:
B McGuinness (Rm. 329)
3

*Regular Bell Schedule

PM Supervisor:
S Kohm (Rm. 531)
4

*Regular Bell Schedule

Teacher Intervisitation Feedback Form Due

PM Supervisor:
M Frank (Rm. 121)


NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR:
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
JANUARY 7

*First Monday Schedule

Professional Learning Communities Meet

PM Supervisor:
G Raschilla (Rm. 143)
8

*Regular Bell Schedule

9th Grade Assembly
Period 5

PM Supervisor:
S Rau (Rm. 829)
9

*Regular Bell Schedule

PM Supervisor:
D Silva (Rm. 125)
10

*Regular Bell Schedule

10th Grade Assembly
Period 9

PM Supervisor:
N Moore (Rm. 228) 


11

*Regular Bell Schedule

PM Supervisor:
K Boulamaali (Rm. 703)



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
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

FILL OUT INTERVISITATION FORM BY THIS FRIDAY, JANUARY 4
A reminder that teachers should complete your Intervisitation and submit the form no later than Friday, January 4

FEEDBACK NEEDED ON IMPROVING THE TEACHER FORM FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS
We in the Office of SWD wanted to provide some additional insight to our Teacher Form. This form helps us to address students’ academic needs, assess their progress in/with the general education curriculum and justify services through the IEP. Your voice and input is incredibly valuable in creating this legal document, which is unique to each child. Attending meetings is also important, as it is a requirement to have a general education teacher at an IEP present. Please understand we try to work around teacher schedules, when scheduling however, there are times when this does not align to a parent/family members schedule.

In the new year we hope to make some small revisions to our Teacher Form and would appreciate your feedback regarding the current one. If there is any information, you would like to share, please email or stop by and see Ms. McGuinness in room 329.

2nd ROUND OF EVALUATIVE OBSERVATIONS HAVE BEGUN
The second round of Evaluative Observations will take place the weeks of January 3 and January 7.

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.

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.

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

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


IMPORTANT ATTENDANCE REMINDERS FROM MS. KLEPACKI
□ Please keep your Attendance Sheets for the week.  
□ Please hand in any and all Attendance Sheets and Confirmation Sheets by this Friday January 4th. 
□ Confirmation sheets will be printed for November.  Please check your attendance records before filling them in

UNCLAIMED PRINTED PAY STUBS
Go to Payroll Portal and uncheck the "print" request box if you do not want your printed stub. Every pay period a large number of stubs which are delivered to the Payroll Office are not picked up. 

TRANSIT DELAYS / MEDICAL ABSENCES
Please turn in your notes.  Without official back-up, your absence or delay cannot be recorded as such.

CHROMEBOOK INVENTORY
We ask all classroom teachers to do an inventory of the Chromebooks in their classrooms every month – here is the link for the inventory - https://goo.gl/forms/BxmBqwnaN6DKxOBr1

TECHNOLOGY REQUESTS
The response spreadsheet with write-ups of the status of the technology tickets has been updated – I think you will find it more helpful.

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.




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 MS. NEWPORT for all her efforts in making the Holiday Windows Unveiling so successful – the windows are awesome and reflect the amazing creativity of our students!

Thank you to MS. CARTER & MS. VACCARO for their efforts in organizing the logistics of the Holiday Window event to make sure all went smoothly for our Visual Merchandising students.

Thank you to MS. VACCARO for her efforts with her Virtual Enterprises students as they finished in second place in their Business Plan competition.

Thank you to MS. PARISSE, MR. NG, MR. KEARNS, MS. DAVID & MS. BAILEY for supporting the highly successful Winter Fair.  Thank you to MS. SAN JORGE & MR. RAU for organizing the Winter Fair with our student government.

Thank you to our SEL Coordinators - MS. PADRON, MS. PARISSE, MS. MOLLOY & MS. STAMBOULY for organizing our holiday sing along event and student signing of a thankfulness board that will be posted in the school lobby.

Thank you to all our holiday caroling participants including MR. JONES, MS. TROTTA, MS. WEISS, MS. McKEON, MS. PARISSE, MS. KLEPACKI, MR. EGAN, MR. LIU, MS. CHIN, MR. DUKE, MS. RUSSELL, MR. SIA, MR. STAMPONE, MR. DAWSON, MS. MOKIM, MS. MOORE & MR. RODRIGUES for.  I apologize for missing anyone from the shout outs!

Thank you to MS. McGOLDRICK for providing teachers with excellent, helpful Writing Revolution sessions.

Thank you to MS. SAN JORGE for preparing presentations for our student assemblies that focused on students being aware of their academic progress.

Thank you to MR. LACHOK for covering for a colleague by coaching a boys basketball game; connected to that shout out - nominated by MR. LACHOK, thank you to MR. STAMPONE for helping him out with that coaching by taking it upon himself to look up where the game was and then showing up to the game.  Mr. Stampone sat with Mr. Lachok the entire game helping him coach.  Mr. Stampone always shows how he genuinely cares about his colleagues as well as creating a supportive and caring school environment.




VTODs FOR THE WEEK
BUILDING EQUITY Theme

Wednesday, January 2
inclusive (adj.) 1 open to everyone.  Fortunately, the majority of young people today seem more inclusive than any other generation in history. 2. including the specific limits mentioned and everything in between. These rates are available Monday to Thursday inclusive.
Thursday, January 3
oppression (n) the state of being kept down by unjust use of force or authority: A major outcome of those years of oppression directed at black people is exemplified in the racial wealth gap. The council offered an approach that does nothing to help the victims of oppression in that country. 
Friday, January 4
indigenous (adj.) describes people, plants, or animals that are native or original to an area. Paulette Jordan, an indigenous woman, vied to be America’s first Native American governor.  The koala is indigenous to Australia.  



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.