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Helping students ‘rise to expectations’

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A proud Banana Kelly HS staff holds its banner as well as the one that bears the
Miller Photography
A proud Banana Kelly HS staff holds its banner as well as the one that bears the Bronx schools' new moniker.
Townsend Harris HS chose "We are the Champions" as their theme song
Miller Photography
Staff members from Townsend Harris HS in Flushing, Queens chose "We are the Champions" as their theme song after a difficult year.

Townsend Harris HS in Flushing, Queens, has always had a reputation for academic excellence. Banana Kelly HS in the South Bronx is part of the city’s School Renewal Program. But they stood side by side as Team High School Award winners at the UFT’s 2017 Academic High Schools Awards Celebration.

Nearly 400 people filled Shanker Hall at union headquarters for the April 28 celebration, where teachers also were honored for excellence in the classroom and for their efforts as union activists.

“It’s a vocation, a passion, a mission providing the resources and direction for academic success to young people trying to figure out who they are,” said Janella Hinds, the UFT’s vice president for academic high schools.

Members also give strength “to our union’s mission by showing that great working conditions for educators mean great learning conditions for students,” she said.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew told attendees — including Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña and keynote speaker Christine Quinn, the president of Women in Need, which provides shelter for homeless families — that the beauty of public education is “every child is welcomed, embraced and supported. None are turned away, despite whatever challenges they bring.”

Eight schools in all were recognized for demonstrating excellence through collaboration and the promotion of a positive school culture. Each winning school received a banner, but Banana Kelly got two: As it sheds its reputation as a struggling school, moving from developing to proficient in its quality review, it’s also shedding its name and will start fresh next year.

Recently at Banana Kelly, Mulgrew met Jessica Mendez, who grew up in Longwood and has returned to her neighborhood to teach. He met guidance counselor Aurisis Peña, who said no staff member wears only one hat. And he met Annalise Hylton, a finalist for the Department of Education’s Big Apple Award for teaching excellence, who said Banana Kelly is where she learned all the important things.

“We have chosen to care for children and to try to educate them. I can’t see a better example of that than what you have done here,” Mulgrew told them.

Chapter Leader Cristina Resek-Abellas agreed with colleagues that Principal Asya Johnson has set a vision to guide them. “All we needed was a light, and we followed that light,” she said. “The expectations we have for each other, the kids are starting to live up to as well. We’re doing the work and we’re doing a hell of a job.”

Townsend Harris is getting a fresh start, too, with an invigorated union chapter. The DOE recently appointed a new principal, replacing an interim acting principal after months of tension. Students and faculty forged a partnership with parents and elected officials to fight for the change to deal with issues that ranged from failure to report discrimination to the nature of interactions between the administrator and the school’s students, parents and staff.

It all boiled down to a collective sense that “she wasn’t supportive of the mission of the school or the work teachers do here,” said Franco Scardino, the UFT chapter leader.

“It really did galvanize us,” he added. “More teachers joined the PTA and they came to chapter meetings more frequently and in larger numbers. You have the feeling that this is our school and we have to stick together to save it.”

Students were an integral part of the fight, writing articles in the school newspaper and organizing two sit-ins at the school and a protest at City Hall.

Expectations are high at Townsend Harris, Scardino said. “And we found that kids rise to those expectations.”

Across the East River in the Bronx, they discovered the same thing.

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