August 2017 Newsletter

SA families Bensonhurst

August 2017 Newsletter

What’s Inside 1 Opening Letter 2 A Brief History of Parental Involvement 3 Q+A with Principal Dant 9 Going Local 10 Dear Potential Volunteer 11 Joyous Rigor & Communication 12 Meeting Dates

open space seat backs await 4th grade scholars’ names. Where will they atttend 5th?

What’s at stake?

A former employee recently described SA-BH as a big big family.* Every year there is a change in staff and more scholars join the ranks, but every year the attitude recovers: Everyone is welcome.

Our ability to hold the SA-BH family together physically isn’t the only problem we face this year—we need more families to step in, fill the gaps left by previous volunteers, and take on new challenges.

Newsletter Madeline Vega Content creation

Illona Bobritsky copy editor

There are families at every SA elementary location who enroll because they want a great academic foundation, and then apply to private schools and specialized public schools later. You can have one foot out the door and still be a part of this family. Read the weekly email, be nice to the people around you, don’t encourage anti-school rhetoric online. If you have feedback, be sure to give it directly to the people who can do something with the suggestion. And always feel free to take action to bring your solution to life. This issue is filled with ways families created the SA-BH community and how to be an invested parent this year.

To submit pictures or stories, email contribute_sabh@yahoo.com

As we wait for the City to suggest and approve a location for a South Brooklyn middle school, we can start to reach out to SA Bergen Beach families and get to know them. They are open to meeting up for mixers (what we call play-dates) so we are not strangers at PEP meetings or when our kids start school together.

*Substitute another word for the second big.

“BH is a beauiful place,” as that former employee said, but we can expand to be an even bigger family and more beautiful if everyone pitches in. —Madeline

2014 winter social with activity stations that doubled as gifts for staff

A Brief History

seth low appreciation to show how excited we are to grow together

Year 1

of Parental

Involvement The first year of SA-BH brought out the volunteer in many parents and guardians, ensuring a nice community.

Year two Parents worked tirelessly to plan and promote monthly gatherings the second year .

video of scholars for 2015 Teacher appreciation week

inviting Brooklyn 12 to showcase our First art show

2 SA Bensonhurst Families August 2017

Year 2

Sharing is caring families worked to create presentations, serve ethnic food, and, in the case of these pictures, celebrate what makes some of the caribbean islands unique.

Parents worked together in school to help scholars learn more about other families the second year.

We lost more than 45 minutes when the school day no longer allowed such events.

Diy gatherings official chairs were elected to coordinate cultural events and play-dates and socials, but, like 2014, the best work was not coming from committees.

Parents made waffles, set up weekend events, and publicized activities on Facebook.

Year 3

August 2016 SA Bensonhurst Families 3

professional protestors network-wide gatherings are now a thing of the past. expect invitations to smaller events.

+ QA Principal Dant: What can I help you with?

Madeline: Can you get my 2-year-old to take a nap?

D: You’ve called the baby whisperer…

hidden messgae Councilman Greenfield announced plans for the SA-BH playground in his June newsletter as the Bullet point “I.S. 96 PLayground on Avenue P.”

In 2014 and 2015, SA-BH parents made dozens of phone calls to Councilman Greenfield’s office in District 44 to let him know how they felt about the conditions in the Seth Low school yard. All of the calls, emails, and participatory budget votes added up to Councilman Greenfield and Borough President Adams securing more than a million dollars of funding for future improvements to the play yard.

4 SA Bensonhurst Families August 2017

M: We’ll see how far we can get in this phone call before there’s some major meltdown happening. I started attending CEC meetings at the end of the year because there was so much advertising for how we should all join the Community Education Council. But they hate charters, so I can’t actually run for CEC. But I’m still interested in attending more meetings to be there on the front line of rezoning and creating more public school seats. I mean, Kal is in Success Academy because his zoned school couldn’t offer him a seat. And they can hate us all they want, but we’re taking their 5th grade seats and their 6th grade seats if they can’t help us get space. Is it going to cause problems for the school if I start rounding up people to attend local meetings to remind the public school representatives that charter school families are real people? Eva Moskowitz told parent advocates that this year we’re switching our focus to smaller events.

That 50 phone calls to a single elected official’s office has a huge impact. There won’t be a 25,000-person assembly.

D: With the approach this year, I think the switch to local advocacy is a way for us to show, Hey, we live in your district, we love our

to be sure this newsletter isn’t filled with only my opinions on how parents can get involved, i asked principal dant to answer a few questions about the coming school year. —Madeline Vega school, and we just want you to know who we are and tell our story. Because whatever story you hear, whatever you know is a little different, and now you know where we’re coming from. And if you come to our school and see the great things happening, it starts to demystify the myths of charters—especially Success Academy.

I think the local advocacy movement is a way to get people from the neighborhood to talk to their elected officials.

M: do we need to be organizing groups of parents to go around the corner to assemblyman Colton’s office after drop-off to hunt him down? d: They’re your elected officials, you have the right to do that. I will be explaining the ways that we would like families to get involved at Your Scholar’s Success meeting.

M: What’s the deadline for renewing a charter? d: from what I understand, the deadline for the Board of Regents is in August. SunY has every right to renew or not renew a charter, but, from what I understand, the Board of Regents said they would respond in good faith.

M: network seems to have been tapering down the forms of communication over the past two years. I was not surprised to hear at the beginning of the past school year that

represeNtAtioN TALkInG TO YOuR LOCAL ELECTED OffICIALS CAn HELP THEM unDERSTAnD HOw YOuR CHILD’S STORY MIGHT nOT BE THE SAME AS wHAT’S PROJECTED AT THE nATIOnAL LEVEL.

Councilman Greenfield announced he won’t return. District 44 constituents should secure a replacement who also favors charter schools.

“In April, the state’s Board of Regents sent a slate of Success Academy charter renewals back to SunY, arguing the authorizer had renewed them too soon. ...

The move is largely symbolic, since SunY has the final word.”

—chalkbeat.org If you have strong feelings about Next Generation learning standards, a charter’s ability to certify its own teachers, or other education matters that affect the whole state, you can submit comments to the Board of Regents.

August 2016 sA Bensonhurst Families 5

network expected PCEC to rely on ACTIOn updates as the sole mean of communication. now I’ve heard there’s no forthcoming app and there won’t be a website. What’s the plan for communicating with parents this year?

Look for an email every Friday afternoon from sabh.mainoffice@ successacademies.org with “ACTION Update” in the subject line for news and calendars

d: we are all digital. we all understand—and network understands—there are BIG gaps in communication. I was on the team that created and piloted the school website. Just from the data from the eight schools that tested websites, ours was most actively using it—especially once they stopped sending reminders. But clearly not everyone was using it. The school will use digital communication friday afternoon that families need to read. nothing’s off the table. Calendars could come back. The network is trying to turn things around and close the gap with feedback from schools, but also streamline methods.

M: Will every class use dojo this year?

D: I don’t know if you’ll be able to see how your scholar is doing, but we think it’s a great way for teachers to reach parents with updates. Teachers need a platform to reach the whole class.

M: Is there a plan for how to show parents what’s going on inside the school? I think that’s one of the things I missed by never being on Dojo—the visual updates. d: Yes, one of the things we’re going to reboot is parental joy. Ms. Gorman is taking on more of Mr. O’s past responsibilities, like posting on social media.

hot BreAkfAst DOnuTS fOR SCHOLARS wHO fInISHED SuMMER HOMEwORk On TIME wAS PART Of THE InITIATIVE TO REBOOT PAREnTAL JOY, THOuGH, I PERSOnALLY fOunD ExITInG THE GYM TO BE THE MOST JOYfuL PART.

6 sA Bensonhurst Families August 2017

M: Outside of talking to the teacher and reading the ACTIOn update and talking to people around you in line, what can families do to feel more involved in the school? d: So we’re bringing back classroom parents this year to drive engagement at the classroom level, which I think is easier to do

than school-wide. The scholars know each other, you have the same teacher. And so the classroom parent will be working with the teacher to find times when parents can contribute. Maybe you work, how you can still be involved? Class parents can help leverage those parents. And then there’s more visibility and a smaller community.

M: how many new staff members do we have this year? d: Thirteen new staff, and new speech and occupational therapy providers.

M: There are all kinds of posts on facebook and Instagram about the training for teachers this summer, but are they doing anything to learn each other’s names? d: we’re trying. we do an icebreaker every day. Ms. Sarawat is putting together a staff contact list with pictures of everyone and a fun fact in addition to the school names.

M: Will the staff list ever include snapchat or Instagram Ids?

fAce swAp MS. fOSTER TEACHES SCIEnCE, MS. CALISH TEACHES fOuRTH GRADE, AnD MS. LIEBERMAn TEACHES THIRD GRADE. THEY ARE nOT THE SAME PERSOn.

Your Scholar’s Success Thursday, August 31 will explain how to get involved and what to expect this year

d: I encourage staff to create professional teacher accounts if they choose. we actually have an official Snapchat filter for the first day of school. Ms. Andersen also ordered a photo backdrop with the school logo and hashtag that we can use for other events. Every school has a hashtag this year. we voted. Ours is #mySABH. use it everywhere to share pictures of scholars.

M [sees her time is almost up]: well, thank you so much! d: About the Parent Investment Card, it’s just the data. not a judgment. not a story. Maybe there’s something else going on that we can help resolve. It’s a way to start a conversation about what’s going on outside the classroom.

I will discuss more at Your Scholar’s Success meeting.

reAdiNg Night PICTuRES fROM 2014 Of SA-BH PAREnTS READInG TO THEIR SCHOLARS In THE GYM COnTInuE TO APPEAR In nETwORk EMAILS AnD SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS. PHOTO BY PRInCIPAL DAnT

August 2016 sA Bensonhurst Families 7

Parent Investment Cards Schools issue cards to give feedback to parents and guardians because “your scholar simply cannot achieve his or her greatest potential without you,” according to the Success Academy parent handbook.

The cards focus on three areas: homework supervision, school readiness, and parent responsiveness.

Parent Investment Expectations The Success Academy elementary handbook online outlines what will land you in the yellow and red.

M: Eva’s email talks about how important heavy involvement is in high school, but that goes against what some of us have learned about parenting. By the time they’re in fourth grade, we’re supposed to just say, “Is your homework done? Okay.” At some point, I’m supposed to put my junior high kid on a bus and send him across Brooklyn to go to school.

He has to do this on his own. Now I’m gonna be graded on it?!

D: To your point about attendance, right, yes, we want to build independence. At the end of the day, though, it’s still your concern whether he arrives at school on time. It’s a record of infractions, data you should already know.

None of it’s a surprise. We can look at that data and figure out what the rest of the story is to resolve any issues.

M: A Kindergarten mom and I raised the point at the communications focus group that if science newsletters are no longer printed, my scholar can’t be responsible for holding on to it and reviewing it. I have to go into my email and set my scholar up to look at it online. And I’m going to be graded on whether or not I do that?

D: When they have their Chrome books in middle school, it’s a different story.

M: So, it’s like everything else—talk to your teacher?

D: We can’t help families come up with solutions otherwise.

chrome books imagine getting updates over the summer that your scholar has not made enough progress on math homework. That could be in your near future...

8 SA Bensonhurst Families August 2017

M: And all those meetings I asked about in June—bullying, middle school space, PCEC—parents should keep an eye out for announcements about them? (Are you doing a reading night to give Network a fresh set of pictures to steal?)

D: Yes, you should keep an eye out. We should do a reading night. I like that one.

•••

Going Local A guide to all the district numbers associated with your home address

6

In the Pocket

15 7 38

SA-BH sits here, inside CSD21, Council District 44, and Community Board 11 For the lottery, SA-BH uses school district 21 for geographic priority, but the school itself is part of District 84.

City Councilman David Greenfield of District 44 and Borough President Eric Adams helped secure funds for renovating the play yard.

20

43

10

11

Community Board 11 would decide whether or not to change the parking signs on Ave. P.

Community Board School District

(red lines) Geographic regions that are then divided into zones to help determine public school populations

Community Education Council Under Mayoral Control, each school district has its own CEC to collect information from schools and community members to make decisions locally, including re-zoning. Members are elected by PTA members or appointed by the Borough President.

Under Mayoral Control, the PEP helps the NYC Department of Education function as one cohesive Board of Education rather than 32 local boards.

23 41 45

5 42 19

40 17 18 14 12 22 18 44 46 15 47 48 13

21

(green lines) Rather than send every decision through a City Council committee, local boards can determine changes

Panel for Educational Policy

39

44 17 9

State Assembly

The lower house of the New York State Legislature is composed of 150 members each representing a district with an average population of 128,652. The Assembly recently extended Mayoral Control after the state Senate tried to handcuff it to the number of new charter locations.

State Senate

The upper house of the New York State Legislature has 63 members drafting and approving changes to the laws of New York. “To effectively represent the will of the people, senators must gain a deep understanding of those issues and how they impact New Yorkers,� according to NYSenate.gov. Visit the site and help them craft a better set of laws.

U.S. House of Representatives The lower house in the federal legislative branch has 435 members representing equally populated districts.

Every seat is up for election in November 2018.

U.S. Senate The upper house is composed of City Council (blue lines) Members represent two members from each state who create and

the interests of their constituents when voting on spending, taxes, and laws in the city.

pass laws.

August 2016 SA Bensonhurst Families 9

Dear Potential Volunteer, Let’s figure out how to make this worth your time.

Life at the epicenter Boom at the 2015 Art Show after weeks of volunteer work, from collecting money for a faculty breakfast to strategy meetings.

The idea of weekly meetings, extra (unpaid) work, and late nights could cause anyone to faint.

Luckily, there are many ways to be a volunteer.

Before the past school year started, after hearing several times from nominees for President and Vice President of the Parent Council Executive Committee that the jobs seemed like too much work, I wrote a version of this “Dear Potential Volunteer” piece.

Now, after a year of canceling events due to a lack of volunteers, it still seems appropriate to put the idea out there that there are many ways to contribute to the community— whether that’s simply not blocking the driveways on W 12th Street or sharing a video of Field Day activities you captured on your phone. Do you.

The most meaningful contributions

are going to be in ways that feel authentic to you. You can shop? You can craft a collection box? You can answer questions on Facebook? Be helpful. Be you.

In the past three years, I’ve had some “Why am I doing this?” moments because you should ask yourself that when you have little kids. Betty has been on the job now for two years. She treked to Pine Street for a sworn affidavit that wasn’t used and City Hall for a press conference no one covered—all to try to save UPK when there are UPK locations on every block in our neighborhood. But that’s Betty.

What could you do? —Madeline

10 SA Bensonhurst Families August 2017

Early and often Volunteering seemed to start immediately for us. in 2014, Kal started at Sa-BH on Thursday, Sept. 25. The following Thursday, I took a 2-year-old and a barely 5-year-old on the subway to Foley Square for a rally (above) because strollers weren’t allowed on the bus. Boom made the trip to Albany in March 2015 and with his baby sister, Betty, to City Hall in April 2016 (below).

Joyous Rigor What is this newsletter thing?

SA Bensonhurst had a lot of presence on Facebook, but a lot of activity didn’t necessarily mean a lot of joy in the 2014-’15 school year.

I personally was only in the school two or three times the first eight months the school was open, but I was euphoric over how different SA-BH was from the other three local schools my children

had attended. So I made a magazine with pictures from Facebook to demonstrate that joy. way makes his Mr. graves for the group. turns as by taking to read aloud practices is asked graves’ group r room, a scholar the rug. Mr. yet anothe Raser on cards. in with Ms. number of sight words a certain practice serious Scholars to get through have to be line, racing down the voices doesn’t , when character he’s happy differentiating when and nt rolls in, words, be differe tsunami marks, bold , when a when question owen or he’s eating his mom, izing the mention can’t find place hang of emphas didn’t really when he him some getting the brought e, again. men take the library

Scholars dressed like centenarians to celebrate 100 days

g about readin to get excited it’s hard to you’re about you know Sometimes ndth scholar when book for the thousa with your nonanother Rootsbrought the same listen to rs are simply While schola levels when time or they’ve home again. certain fiction book e books from ant to find to choos om, it’s import directed in the classro imagination at home. shopping capture their recognizable books that might lack nt locations off differe Local library pulling books There’s a winner but keep like a game. spend time characters, make it feel if that fails, shelves to still fun. here! and rtable, but in there somew not as comfo a store. reading in

march 2015

| SABH 11

Aging Kindergarteners and First Graders to look 100 years old was serious business for some families that really got into the spirit with hair color, wigs, mature clothing, and canes. This crew had a lot of spirit for the 100th day of school.

angeLa angeLa funDo funDo SovJan, SovJan, SiLvana SiLvana neYJoviCH neYJoviCH SeiDenbeRg, SeiDenbeRg, KaRen KaRen MiRa-PaDiLLa, MiRa-PaDiLLa, TaMiKa TaMiKa RaMoS-MoSCoL, RaMoS-MoSCoL, LianibaCoa LianibaCoa KoKi KoKi MoniCa, naYDa naYDa ReY, ReY, aLMiRa aLMiRa MonaSTYRSKiY, MonaSTYRSKiY, naTaSHa naTaSHa DeLbe, DeLbe, YuRi YuRi nazaRov, nazaRov, LeaH LeaH RobeRTSon, RobeRTSon, STePHanie STePHanie JagRooP JagRooP MoniCa,

booK

MaDeLin

hing beside with printed , but Is there somet of games to play online plenty s available to There are ted option so often is and anima flashcards as you flashcards to avoid using the words in a book but the first way to all you to point, time. Point baby-ish for read all the the sight sound too tion with read. It might r’s connec words your schola ) Point out are it reinforces good habits. it models where words (And strate . words Demon packages. on signs and they mean. and what l around 2010, time channe the all Sprout ercials for watched the ducing comm g words If you ever the guilt-in saw readin ly rs you probab showing toddle a series of DVDs Can Read, Can Read was teach viewers Your Baby bulletin board Your Baby to rds. voices The Winter snow off flashca clips and us “There’s Commission reminds reading.” a variety of for family that used Federal Trade g false better time phrases. The from makin a series of how company But that’s to stop the can read.” stepped in as “your baby the letters and what e claims, such becaus recognizing appealing reading works—The DVDs were so nt. stress-free. they represe be fun and read should learning to

Cooley —Mason

100th Day of school

g shoppin

e vega

(cont.) reaDing s flashcards?

Mzee the tortois strange i went to he meets Mama Months later, accepts new, when books. i found in it: tortoise finally now he’s to pull new words when the e a game. tic has two which only “baby.” him... it becam be a drama ing and —M.Vega willing to for practic “Mama” the more with more books. d perfect The way it seeme to reader meaning. a” is going reading with says “mam baby hippo

career Day It was time to try on a new hat for some teachers

LeaH RobeRTSon, PRinCiPaL DanT

l library. to a magica themselves to help Ms. Raser transport order group to Hawaii in in her reading lves to a beach in scholars themse asked the s on the rug. and took Ms. Raser of scholar their eyes for the group They all closed reading habits model good

reading gives us a place en to go wh to we have stay where we are.

10 SABH | march

Kal first books True one of the Mzee: The Owen & Friendship. home was Remarkable times and Story of a of it a bunch e We read at the strang hippo and marveled of a baby ing combination tortoise becom started to a very old Then Kal inseparable.on his own, and we books read

Ks

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h pict ation wit

ing inton

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Zoo keeper, super hero scientist, and hair stylist hopefuls were in class with these future police officers, doctors, teachers, and chefs.

There were even firefighters, artists, pilots, football players, construction workers, and captains present.

2015

Fit to b’Hurst Network was not thrilled. I received their style guide and rebranded as SHarpen, Read it on issuu.com/sharpenmagazine

From the

sa families Bensonhurst

October 2015 Newsletter

create three pages of content and one page of upcoming events.

What’s inside 1

Opening Letter

2

Staff Survey The Best Part of the Day

3

Hard Work

march 2015 | SABH 21

Vegetarian Day Go Beyond SA-BH

sa-bh PCeC Polina Bulman PrESIDENT

Madeline Vega VICE PrESIDENT

Lana Dziouba SECrETAry

sabh.pcec@gmail.com Send pictures or calendar events anytime to contribute_sabh@yahoo.com

altogether at one point, making a comeback as an alert system for changes to dismissal.

Other locations still use robo calls for reminders.

PCEC purchased a URL and webhosting in September 2015, but did not use it effectively. www.sabhfamilies.com

Google Sheets and Google Forms are used to sign up for volunteer tasks and RSVP.

Help!

4 Calendar of Upcoming Events at School and Around Town

Communication methods are ever changing. The ACTION Update used to be the ACTION Flyer because the school printed it weekly along with notices for upcoming trips and invitations to PBL museums. Feedback proved parents love a printed lunch menu, but not much else.

Generally, printed flyers were not worth the trouble.

Text messages stopped 20 SABH | march 2015

The 2015-’16 PCEC President said she wanted a monthly newsletter. I didn’t see the point of having two competing titles on top of all the Facebook activity, so I took on the PCEC newsletter and tried to be sure it never repeated content already seen on Facebook. Rather than relay messages from ACTION Updates, the goal SA Families became to give some insight to A single what our scholars do during the day tabloid-size and represent as much as the school paper folded in half to as possible in a tiny printed space.

Parent CounCil exCeCutive Committee

STOP THE PRESSES scholars used to bring home printed newsletters.

ON the cusp, GWu KiNderGarteNers Wait tO WalK calmly Out tO the play yard. adults have Guided them dOWNstairs, made sure they actually ate their luNches, aNd Will sOON separate them iNtO small GrOups tO play safely. PHOTO By MADELINE VEGA

taking the lead The more structure you introduce, the happier children feel. At least, that’s what psychologists will tell you. Children may never act like they are listening or want to go along with the structure, but supposedly children crave the security of routines and rules. There has to be a boundary for them to test.

The Success Academy rules and infractions can sound so regimented from a distance. But from inside the school, scholars smile at you as they walk to the bathroom. Scholars wait to open their lunch boxes until the whole class is sitting down and ready to eat. Scholars talk to anyone who is near them because they’re all family now. Everywhere you look ACTION values are reinforced, and it’s amazing.

While it might be the parents’ job to remind scholars to do everything from finishing their homework to flushing the toilet, there’s a lot we could learn from our scholars. How to be friendly, how to be imaginative, how to be hopeful. There’s a lot left for us to teach them, but watch what it means to try and try or show integrity or bounce back from a disappointment.

Printing, folding, and distributing the newsletter could take ten times longer than photographing, designing, writing, and editing the issue. Without Elena Gorohovksy, the calendar editor, asking when I needed her content, I probably would have stopped producing issues quickly. And without Illona Bobritsky, the copy editor, the content might not have been as accessible. Thank you! —MV

Search Facebook for “SABH” to find class and parent groups. Be sure to join facebook.com/groups/sabhfamily facebook.com/groups/sabhparents in a crisis every update, text, and call seemed welcome

August 2016 SA Bensonhurst Families 11

Scheduling Your Civic Duties Be there when middle school space options go before committees All dates and locations subject to change

CEC20

CEC21

CEC22

Monday, Sept. 18 @ 6 p.m.

P.S. 682 50 Ave. P, Brooklyn NY 11204

Dates are not available at this time.

Thursday, Sept. 14 @ 6:30 p.m.

P.S. 217 1100 Newkirk Ave., Brooklyn NY 11230

October 11

These meetings are open to the public, so we are invited to listen to them conduct business.

Contact cec21@schools.nyc.gov

November 8 December 13

There is an opportunity for public comment at all meetings.

January 10

October 5 November 2 December 7 January 4

February 14

February 1

March 21

March 10

April 11

April 12

May 16

May 10

June 13

June 14

Panel for Educational Policy Wednesday, September 27 High School for Fashion Industries Wednesday, October 25 Michael J. Petrides High School

chool s le d d i Our m lready a s a h e spac eadline d e h t d misse n the o t e g o t genda a r e b m Septe

Tuesday, November 28 Long Island City High School Wednesday, December 20 High School for Fashion Industries Wednesday, January 24 Murry Begtraum High School Wednesday, February 28 M.S. 131 Wednesday, March 21 High School for Fashion Industries Wednesday, April 25 Murry Bergtraum High School Wednesday, May 30 Toft Educational Campus

12 SA Bensonhurst Families August 2017

te This is la l ova for appr