Wednesday's Town Hall discussion

Prospect Heights Patch published a report on the District 13 Community Education Council Town Hall Meeting at M.S. 113 on April 12. At least a dozen P.S. 9 parents attended and asked questions of Deputy Chancellor Marc Sternberg.

Colin Weathersby wrote the story, which noted that Mr. Sternberg didn't directly answer many questions. Mr. Weathersby also took the photo at left showing (from left) parents Christina LaBrie, Faye Rimalovski, Catherine Jhung , Ivana Espinet, Maria McGrath, Maggie Adonis and Penelope Mahot. One standout comment included in the Patch story:

Several parent speakers noted that the Brooklyn East Collegiate Charter School does not currently provide full services for special needs students. Deputy Chancellor Sternberg quickly responded that charter schools are mandated to provide equivalent resources under state law, citing that anything less “is a serious violation and needs to be brought to the attention of the DOE.”

We'll include other accounts of the evening as we get them.

Support PreK-8 grade expansion: sample letters and update

P.S. 9 Principal D'Avilar, in conjunction with the School Leadership Team (SLT), is filing a two-page Letter of Intent to expand P.S. 9 to a pre-K to Grade 8 school, following the Department of Education’s Grade Reconfiguration Process for the 2012-2013 school year.

Please support P.S. 9’s efforts to expand to a middle school by sending letters to the following DOE officials: Dennis Walcott, Chancellor, and Marc Sternberg, Deputy Chancellor, Division of Portfolio Planning. Please also sign this petition.

Scroll down for a sample letter you can use.

Both letters can be mailed to: New York City Department Of Education, 52 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007.

SAMPLE LETTER TO MAIL:

[ADDRESSEE NAME, ADDRESS]

[DATE]

Dear Chancellor Walcott,

In keeping with your commitment to working with parents and communities on strengthening public education for our children, I hope you will support P.S. 9 Teunis G. Bergen Elementary School’s grade expansion proposal.

As a thriving and inclusive elementary school, P.S. 9 is an anchor of the vibrant, diverse community of Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, and surrounding neighborhoods. P.S.9 offers a barrier-free, fully accessible learning environment, school-wide enrichment programming, and has a collaborative model that promotes strong partnerships between parents, the administration and the wider community.

P.S. 9 has the vision and capability to grow into a successful middle school that would give P.S. 9 graduates a strong neighborhood middle school option while serving the needs of the District 13 community.

I support the school’s efforts to expand into a pre-Kindergarten through Grade 8 school, and hope that the Letter of Intent submitted to the DOE by the P.S. 9 administration will be approved.

Thanks and best regards,

[Name, Address]

MID-WINTER RECESS Student Packages GRADES K, 1 & 2

Dear Parents,

We hope you and your child enjoy this Mid-Winter Recess vacation. We encourage you to rest, explore the world around you, and provide our children with lots of opportunities to question and seek the great volumes of knowledge around them. As always, we are encouraging you to continue fostering an environment at home that promotes reading and learning. Research continues to show that the more our children read and have good experiences with books, the smarter and more articulate they will become. Our children are accustomed to reading independently at school on a daily basis. They are also accustomed to engaging in rich book discussions. We know that you will continue these practices during the break and that you will encourage them to read, read, read and read everyday.

Students in Grades K are requested to read or be read to for 30 minutes EVERY DAY. We encourage you to provide an environment for them to engage in a book discussion with one of their adults at home. Our children should also be encouraged to take picture walks in their books, and also share their thoughts with someone else.

Students in Grades 1 and 2 are requested to read or be read to for 60 minutes EVERYDAY (this reading MUST be broken up into two or three sessions). They must then complete their Reading Logs, and engage in a book discussion with an adult at home. We also encourage picture Walks, and an opportunity for our students to make inferences and predictions about what they see throughout the book.

I encourage you all to take our children to the various museums and public libraries throughout the city.

Your Partner In Education,

Sandra D’Avilar

Principal

MID-WINTER RECESS Student Packages GRADES 3, 4, & 5

Dear Parents of Grades 3, 4 and 5,

We hope you and your child enjoy this Mid-Winter Recess. We encourage you to rest, explore the world around you, and provide our children with lots of opportunities to question and seek the great volumes of knowledge around them. As always, we are encouraging you to continue fostering an environment at home that promotes reading and inquiry. Research continues to show that the more our children read and have good experiences with books, the smarter and more articulate they will become. Our children are accustomed to reading independently at school on a daily basis. They are also accustomed to engaging in rich book discussions. We know that you will continue these practices during the break and that you will encourage them to read, read, read and read everyday. Below we have outlined the work that MUST continue during this break, we ask that you monitor our children as much as possible, and that you remind them that the BEST ingredient for success in school is to PRACTICE and STUDY, so they can be READY for any challenge.

ELA: INDEPENDENT READING:

Students must READ EVERY DAY for 60 minutes, and then complete their Reading Log (ALL Reading Logs MUST be checked and signed by a parent.) Those students who struggle as readers are encouraged to break the 60 minutes up into 2-3 sessions per day (20 mins per session,) and work on reading for longer sessions each day. By the end of the break, we expect them to increase their Reading Muscles, and be able to reach their goal of 1 hour.

ELA: Reading Comprehension/Test Companion Book: Our students MUST complete Practice Test 1 and 2 on Monday; Practice Test 3 and 4 on Tuesday; Practice Test 5 and 6 on Wednesday; Practice Test 7 and 8 on Thursday, and The FULL –LENGTH PRACTICE TEST (located at the BACK of the Kaplan Test Companion book) on Friday. Each Practice Test has its own answer grid, and ALL answers for the multiple choice questions MUST be completed on the answer grid (for each individual Practice Test.) ALL Open Answer Questions must be answered in the book as outlined.

Grade 3 Students MUST also complete Writing Mechanics/Grammar on pages: 123, 124, 125, 126, 129, 131, 132, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 141, 142, 143, and 144.

Grade 4 Students MUST also complete Response to Literature Practice on pages: 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 129, 132, 133, 134, and 135 on pages:

Grade 5 Students MUST also complete Part 2-Writing on pages: 133, 134, 135, 136, 140, 141, 142, 143, 147, 148, 149, 150, and 151.

ELA: Writer’s Notebooks:

Our students are expected to make an entry in their Writer’s Notebook daily. These entries should be up to a page. Students may write entries pertaining to their current unit of study. They may rewrite a topic they have started previously, they may also write on various topics that interest them. Students are to follow the guidelines for writing in their Writer’s Notebook (don’t forget to date each day.)

Parents, we ask that you please monitor our children, have them read the directions carefully each day, and complete their assignments in ELA.

MATH: Test Companion Book: Our students MUST complete Practice Test 1 and 2 on Monday; Practice Test 3 and 4 on Tuesday; Practice Test 5 and 6 on Wednesday; Practice Test 7 and 8 on Thursday, and The FULL-LENGTH PRACTICE TEST (located at the BACK of the Kaplan Test Companion book) on Friday. All answers must be written in pencil, in the answer grids, and ALL open ended questions must be written in the space provided in the book. Parents, we ask that you reinforce our request and have our children show ALL of their work next to each question.

MATH Reflection: Students are expected to complete a Math Reflection in their Math Reflection notebook each day. Students are to make a reference to a problem they solved, or had difficulty with. They may create a math problem, solve and explain how it was solved. We are encouraging our children to write their thoughts about problem solving and explain how they went about solving a problem; therefore we ask that you reinforce this practice at home as much as possible.

Parents, we ask that you please monitor our children, have them read the directions carefully each day, and complete their assignments in Math.

Your Partner In Education, Sandra D’Avilar

Pre-K Admissions Timeline 2011-2012

The Pre-K admissions process has been announced for school year 2011-2012. Applications may be picked up in the school's main office when they become available on March 7. Questions and assistance may be directed to Ms. Bagley, in our main office or Charmaine Derrell-Jacob.


Pre-Kindergarten Admissions Calendar :

• Application period begins: March 7, 2011

• Deadline to submit an application: April 8, 2011

• Offer letters mailed to families: Early June 2011

• Pre-registration at schools: June 6-17, 2011

Visit the DOE's Pre-K page for more information.

PreK-8 expansion survey: tell your class parent, please

P.S. 9 parents: For an insta-survey, please tell your class parent ASAP:

"If P.S. 9 added grades 6 - 8, would you consider keeping your child at the school for middle school?"

Class parents will be submitting all responses by FRIDAY 4 P.M. to: ptops9@gmail.com

Why this survey? Next week P.S. 9 will present an expansion plan to the Department of Education. P.S. 9's plan will be a strong counterproposal to the DOE's proposal to place a charter middle school upstairs. To make P.S. 9's presentation as persuasive as possible, P.S. 9's leaders want to offer data about parents' interest in a new upper school with 6th-8th grades.

ALERT: Principal proposes PreK-8 expansion

Prodded by questions from the media in the wake of yesterday’s rally, Councilmember Letitia James surprised P.S. 9 parents early Friday morning by attending a planning meeting.

Tish, as she’s known, came to share her insights on the DOE process: to avoid the placement of a charter middle school in the building, P.S. 9 parents must offer an alternative middle school plan. D.O.E.’s data indicates that the building has room, and the DOE and Tish agree that District 13 needs more good middle schools. Tish encouraged Ms. D’Avilar and P.S. 9 parents to endorse a restructuring of upstairs neighbor M.S. 571, which faces a phase-out by the DOE.

Tish wasn’t the only surprise guest. Also attending was Trish Peterson, an instructional advisor from P.S. 9’s support network, CFN 306. Trish suggested that M.S. 571 could be transformed, with new leadership and staff, into P.S. 9’s upper school. It could adopt P.S. 9’s approach of schoolwide enrichment for all students. This new expanded P.S. 9 would offer something attractive for multiple parties:

•For P.S. 9’s community: a school in which we are invested, rather than a charter with its own agenda;

•For other District 13 elementary schools that follow the schoolwide enrichment model (P.S. 8, 11, 133): an attractive destination for their graduates;

•For the councilmember, the D.O.E. and others concerned about limited District 13 middle school options: a promising middle school.

Principal D’Avilar said this morning that, after further discussions, she is committed to transforming P.S. 9 into a PreK-8 school. She noted that expanding on the school’s successes is a much better solution — for the students, for the community, for P.S. 9’s future — than cramming three schools into the building.

Councilmember James has actively called for M.S. 571 to be given another chance, noting that D.O.E. has not followed its own regulations in deciding to close the school. She is scheduled to meet with D.O.E. Deputy Chancellor Marc Sternberg on January 20 to discuss the DOE’s plan. Yet on Friday morning, she said that she is open to endorsing P.S. 9's becoming a K-8 school. The councilmember helped arrange a $350,000 grant to create P.S. 9’s new library.

P.S. 9 parents, please let us know: would you be interested in sending your child to a P.S. 9 upper school? In your response, please also tell us your child’s current grade.

(Photo: Councilmember Letitia James)