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Topics in the News:
our schools
Family Court Judge Ingrid Joseph took the time to talk to students at the UFT Secondary Charter School in Bushwick, Brooklyn, about how she succeeded at a job she loves and how they can succeed, too.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew visited the staff of PS 41 on Staten Island on May 2. Mulgrew discussed topics ranging from next year’s mayoral election and the guidelines the Department of Education recently announced about social media to special education reform and the teacher evaluations negotiations.
True to its mission, Brooklyn’s HS for Innovation in Advertising and Media didn’t hide its light under a bushel. At its May 1 Advertising and Media Day, UFT Vice President Sterling Roberson joined representatives from the ADVERTISING Club of New York, industry professionals, educators, students and parents for an industry immersion day.
Students at PS 199 in Brooklyn’s leafy Midwood neighborhood had a lot to enjoy on May 3 when guests from the local community and Broadway stage came to visit, view their renovated library and read aloud their favorite stories.
Public schools across the city celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week from May 7 to 11 in a variety of ways. At PS 30 in Harlem, UFT District 5 Representative Dwayne Clark joined educators at their school, while on Staten Island, the UFT borough office hosted the festivities.
A select group of 8th-graders at MS 217 in Queens knows exactly how to get to the heart of the matter. Working in teams of two, the young scientists search for the upper great vein of their sheep’s hearts and begin to cut. With scalpels, probes and scissors at hand, students in the Briarwood school’s after-school Heart Surgery Program begin the exacting work of dissecting hearts.
Long before co-locations became about squeezing scores of new schools into already occupied school buildings, the Twin Parks Campus in the East Tremont section of the Bronx grappled with the issue of sharing space. At Twin Parks, at least four schools have been cheek by jowl in one large building for more than 14 years.
The Oyler School in Cincinnati, with 650 pre-K through 12th-grade students, used to average 120 emergency-room trips a year for mental health crises. Students would act up to the point that no one at the school could handle them.
Students from Manhattan’s HS of Hospitality Management used their culinary, event-planning and hospitality-management skills to host a fundraiser at the New York Marriott Marquis hotel on the evening of April 20, working “side by side with professionals from the Marriot to make the event a success,” said Chapter Leader Wayne Berning.
Literacy Week at PS 186 in Bellerose, Queens, kicked off on April 30 with a talk by the famous children’s author David Adler.
Aware of how important it is for children to be active and feel positive about their bodies, Dora Sarkodie, one of three occupational therapists at PS 396 in the Bronx, initiated Movement in the Morning, a start-of-the-day program, in September. The idea, she said, was to couple fun movement with modern upbeat music to motivate students to move and prepare their minds for learning.
Vincent, a senior at the Queens School of Inquiry who plays lead in a heavy metal band, has shoulder-length hair, wears multizippered black leather, has 45 college credits and is going to Queens College in the fall. Of the 65 students in the first graduating class of this Early College Initiative school in Flushing, at least 62 will graduate by August and have applied to college.
Two ancient civilizations came to life in a historical musical presented by two 5th-grade classes at PS 69 in Brooklyn. Led by teachers Amanda Nunnari and Shane Mullin, students wrote, acted and sang in two one-act plays, “Mayan Mystery” and “Aztec Adventure,” at the March 30 production.
“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader” reads the inspiring quotation along the top wall of the brand-new, beautiful and amply stocked library shared by Manhattan’s Central Park East HS and JHS 13. It came about after the co-located schools won grants from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, said school secretary Lorna Sloley.
Our “Seeing is believing” infographic illustrates the myriad burdens that New York City kids carry with them — such as language barriers, hunger and asthma — when they come to school.
Parents came to the second annual Parent Institute held at PS/MS 147 in Cambria Heights, Queens, on March 31 to learn ways to support the academic success of their children.
Would-be entrepreneurs need to pitch detailed business plans to funders and investors. Learning to do that is part of schooling, too, as the annual Virtual Enterprise International’s Youth Business Summit competition attested. In round one, held at union headquarters on March 27, 19 student teams from high schools nationwide competed.
Some talented and brave students at PS/IS 295 in Queens Village have had an “American Idol” experience at their school. It all began with a 30-second a cappella audition and ended in an “American Pop Idol” show for the finalists, modeled after the popular TV show and hosted as a fundraiser at the school on March 23.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew met with staff at PS/IS 183 in Far Rockaway, Queens, on March 20, at the school’s refurbished and soon-to-be-reopened library. Mulgrew briefed members on the latest tabloid attacks on teachers, the state of talks on evaluations and more.
Many students at PS/IS 226 in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, say they consider science their favorite subject. So it’s no surprise that this year’s school Science Expo on March 13 was dramatic and engaging. Students exhibited their work in design, secondary research, controlled experiments and fieldwork.
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