March Family Newsletter

HAPPY BLACK WOMEN HISTORY MONTH!

WELCOME TO MARCH 2024!!!

Happy March! This month we celebrate Women's History Month. We will be exposing our students to various African American and other Black women that have a great influence on the world that we live in. Knowing our history helps us guide our future in making better choices. We will be having a Black Women's History Celebration on MARCH 15TH. Thank you to all of the families that supported parent engagement events such as STEM First Fridays, the AttenDANCE celebrations, and Real Talk. Since we have started these initiatives, more families have come into the building, and we love having you!  Thank you also to our PTA who put together a wonderful fundraiser for our students! Special thank you to SQPA for work that they do with our students everyday. They showcased this work at the Black Excellence Show on March 1st. Congratulations to our very own, Mr. West for receiving the Mr. Black Excellence Award for his outstanding work in the school community and neighborhood!!!

Report Cards and Parent Teacher Conferences. Report cards were posted in January to NYSCA accounts. Promotion in Doubt letters went out last month and were based on a holistic review of the student’s progress in English Language Arts and Math using multiple measures. These holistic reviews are based on performance on iReady, reading levels, attendance, and classroom performance. On MARCH 7TH, we will be having parent teacher conferences. The afternoon session will be from 12:20 pm to 2:20 pm and the evening session will be from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Please set an appointment with your child's teachers. THERE WILL BE NO AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMS ON MARCH 7TH. 

School Status. Our school has been designated for Local Support and Improvement (LSI) by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) for the 2023-24 school year based on the performance of our students on New York State assessments in school year 2022-23. The designation “Local Support and Improvement (LSI),” recognizes that all schools, even higher performing schools like ours, are in a continuous improvement mode and can benefit from local support from their districts to meet students’ differentiated needs. LSI is the best accountability status currently available. The school’s designation is part of the state’s accountability system consistent with federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) requirements.

School Upgrades. Our school is getting some upgrades! Last month, the floor in two classrooms on the third floor were done. The hallway floors on the first and third floors were done in addition to landings on each floor. Additionally, we will be solar powered by July 19th! 

Summer Rising. We have received many inquiries about the summer camp program, Summer Rising. The application is said to come out this month. Families will be able to apply ONLY on the NYCSA app. Please reach out to Ms. Tomblin, Ms. Coyle, and Ms. Excellent if you need assistance with the application. 

Student Supports. We have been preparing our students for the NYS ELA and Math exams taking place in April and May. We will continue until the state exams to support through in school and afterschool test prep. Teachers in grades 3 to 5 will be hosting the second test prep seminars for families on MARCH 12TH at 6 pm and the other will be in March. We are also pleased to announced that we began our K to 2 Saturday Academy on March 2nd to close gaps in literacy and mathematics. 

IREADY: K to 5 students sharpened their skills through iReady testing this past month for their middle of year performance. At current (03/03/2024), here are our results:

Our Data Story is as follows: 

• On the New York State ELA exam, we went from 19% proficiency in the 21/22 school year to 33% proficiency in the 22/23 school year. 
• On the New York State Math exam, we went from 15% proficiency in the 21/22 school year to 34% proficiency in the 22/23 school year
• We are continuing to make strides on the southside. 

STEAM After School Program.  We are partnership with the Allen Youth STEAM Afterschool Program in Grades 1 to 5. So far the students are truly enjoying the program! 

Banana Splits SEL Program. We started a program that addresses the students in our school that are in single parent households. We recognize that social emotional health and mental health get in the way of academics, and we want to support our students with this. This program is for students in Grade 2 and Grade 4.  

Uniforms. We are a uniform school. Please ensure that your child wears uniforms Mondays through Thursdays. Beginning in January, there was a major focus on students wearing their uniform. Please reach out to Ms. Tomblin, our Parent Coordinator, to get uniforms if you are in need. Please know that failure to wear uniform is a violation in the NYC Discipline Code Book. More information is found below. 

Attendance. It is very important that your child attends school on a daily. Attendance is connected to promotion as not being present causes learning loss. If your child has a doctor's appointment in the morning, they may still come to school after the appointment. They will be marked late, but they will not lose out on the whole day's instruction and be considered present. We just hosted our second AttenDANCE Party. This party recognizes and celebrates our students who have perfect attendance. Families are welcomed to come with their children. For the month of February, we will be celebrating over 200 students. 

Please be sure to know that the building opens at 7:30 am each weekday morning, and so whether they want breakfast or not, it is greatly advisable that students come inside rather than waiting in the schoolyard in frigid and/or inclement. 

Birthday Celebrations. Please ensure that you are using the Birthday Celebrations Form so that teachers have notice of your child's birthday. Please contact our Parent Coordinator, Ms. Tomblin, for more information as well as visit our Birthday Policies on our website. 

Communication. At this time, you should be signed up for ClassDojo. It is how we communicate schoolwide information.