The School Leadership Team was convened for an emergency meeting yesterday, May 16, by Local Instructional Superintendent Jill Myers. The reason for the meeting, sadly, was to announce that our Principal, Ms. Corinne Vinal, has resigned her position to accept an exciting new opportunity with the DOE's central office. In her new position, she will work as a mentor to as many as 30 school principals around the City.
While Ms. Vinal will continue as MCSM's principal through the end of this school year, we must begin immediately to search for a new principal. Jill Myers will lead this search on the school's behalf, but her initial role will be to obtain and review candidate resumes and select 4 - 5 individuals for further interviewing. Ms. Myers' plan is to have selected a new principal by June 29th.
This process of selecting principals for their school positions is called a C30. A group of teachers, parents, and two students make up a C30 committee. They will interview the principal candidates as a group and advise Ms. Myers regarding each candidate. We will need 4 - 7 parent volunteers for this VERY important committee, since we will be deciding on our school's leadership for the coming years. If you are interested in participating in this C30 process to help select our next principal, please contact Steve Koss at mathman180@aol.com or Parent Coordinator Julia Valentin at jvalentin2@schools.nyc.gov as soon as possible.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
MCSM Gets Its Report Card from the DOE
This year marked the first time the NYC Department of Education evaluated its schools under the proposed new "report card" system. Each school is placed in a group of about forty schools, called a "peer group," chosen by having similar types of student populations according to their middle school scores in English Language Arts (ELA) and Math. Each school is then evaluated in a number of different categories by how it compares to the rest of the schools in its peer group.
Much to MCSM's credit, it belongs to a peer group with many of NYC's highest performing schools, ranging from Lab, Baruch, Beacon, School of the Future, Eleanor Roosevelt, Millenium, Pace HS, Laguardia HS, and NEST+M in Manhattan to Midwood and Edward R. Murrow in Brooklyn, and Cardozo, Bayside, and Francis Lewis High Schools in Queens. Parents should feel proud that MCSM has been grouped with such exclusive company -- this fact alone speaks volume about MCSM's academic standing in New York City.
All schools are evaluated according to daily attendance, graduation rates, percentage of 11th and 12th graders taking the PSAT and SAT, percentage of students earning 10 or more credits each year, and Regents exam pass rates. Next year, results from parent, student, and teacher surveys will also be included. This year's Report Card was not really official, but it gave each school a chance to see how it would have done. Next year, for the first time, the DOE will include all of the planned components of the evaluation and assign each school a grade from A to F, just like students receive. To get an A, a school must get a score of at least 85, meaning that it is doing well enough to be in the top 15% of its peer group.
So how did MCSM do this year, based on last year's information? Even though we did not receive a letter grade, we received a score of 84.5. That means we missed getting what would be an A grade next year by just 0.5!! According to Principal Corinne Vinal, our huge improvement in daily attendance alone this year (up from last year's 89.9% to about 93%) would likely put MCSM's score high enough to get an A.
The message? MCSM is likely to be an A-rated school in what is probably the strongest peer group of high schools in New York City. We should all be proud of our school, its teachers, and our students, and we should all do whatever we can to encourage our kids to continue working hard and attending school EVERY day, even rainy Fridays and days when Spiderman movies are opening. In addition, we should all do whatever we can to support our school and its teachers. Let's work together to make MCSM #1 in the City's best peer group!!
Much to MCSM's credit, it belongs to a peer group with many of NYC's highest performing schools, ranging from Lab, Baruch, Beacon, School of the Future, Eleanor Roosevelt, Millenium, Pace HS, Laguardia HS, and NEST+M in Manhattan to Midwood and Edward R. Murrow in Brooklyn, and Cardozo, Bayside, and Francis Lewis High Schools in Queens. Parents should feel proud that MCSM has been grouped with such exclusive company -- this fact alone speaks volume about MCSM's academic standing in New York City.
All schools are evaluated according to daily attendance, graduation rates, percentage of 11th and 12th graders taking the PSAT and SAT, percentage of students earning 10 or more credits each year, and Regents exam pass rates. Next year, results from parent, student, and teacher surveys will also be included. This year's Report Card was not really official, but it gave each school a chance to see how it would have done. Next year, for the first time, the DOE will include all of the planned components of the evaluation and assign each school a grade from A to F, just like students receive. To get an A, a school must get a score of at least 85, meaning that it is doing well enough to be in the top 15% of its peer group.
So how did MCSM do this year, based on last year's information? Even though we did not receive a letter grade, we received a score of 84.5. That means we missed getting what would be an A grade next year by just 0.5!! According to Principal Corinne Vinal, our huge improvement in daily attendance alone this year (up from last year's 89.9% to about 93%) would likely put MCSM's score high enough to get an A.
The message? MCSM is likely to be an A-rated school in what is probably the strongest peer group of high schools in New York City. We should all be proud of our school, its teachers, and our students, and we should all do whatever we can to encourage our kids to continue working hard and attending school EVERY day, even rainy Fridays and days when Spiderman movies are opening. In addition, we should all do whatever we can to support our school and its teachers. Let's work together to make MCSM #1 in the City's best peer group!!
Meet Your New PTA Executive Board
At the PTA meeting on May 8, the parents in attendance unanimously approved the three proposed changes to the MCSM PTA Bylaws (see "Proposed Changes to PTA Bylaws" posted on April 15, 2007). Following that vote, the membership elected the following individuals for positions on the PTA Executive Board for 2007/08:
President -- Steve Koss
Co-Vice President -- Deirdre Rose
Co-Vice President -- Don Redish
Secretary -- Yara Rodriguez
Treasurer -- Nevis Almeida
The incoming Board members are eagerly looking forward to an exciting year for next year's PTA and wish to thank the current Board members -- President Bozena Kopczynski, Vice President Alejandro Ramirez, Secretary Nevis Almeida, and Treasurer Clemence Henry -- for all their hard work this year.
Anyone wishing to contact the PTA can do so by contacting Parent Coordinator Julia Valentin at jvalentin2@schools.nyc.gov or calling her at MCSM.
President -- Steve Koss
Co-Vice President -- Deirdre Rose
Co-Vice President -- Don Redish
Secretary -- Yara Rodriguez
Treasurer -- Nevis Almeida
The incoming Board members are eagerly looking forward to an exciting year for next year's PTA and wish to thank the current Board members -- President Bozena Kopczynski, Vice President Alejandro Ramirez, Secretary Nevis Almeida, and Treasurer Clemence Henry -- for all their hard work this year.
Anyone wishing to contact the PTA can do so by contacting Parent Coordinator Julia Valentin at jvalentin2@schools.nyc.gov or calling her at MCSM.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Teachers Reject Title I Schoolwide Program Option
At the PTA meeting on April 17th, the parents once again voted overwhelmingly (in fact, unanimously) to approve a change in MCSM's Title I program that would convert the program from Targeted Assistance to the Schoolwide Program option. As explained on this blog on April 2, the Schoolwide Program option would give our school administration much greater flexibility in applying our $875,000 in annual Title I funds to assist students at academic risk. It would also virtually ensure that MCSM would no longer face the prospect of having to return Title I funds unused back to the Federal government.
Conversion to the Schoolwide Program option is also favored by the school administration. At both the School Leadership Team and PTA meetings on April 17th, Principal Corinne Vinal outlined a thoughtful program for how the Title I funds would be used if the parents and teachers both voted to change from Targeted Assistance to a Schoolwide Program. A few days later, a petition with 60 parent signatures asking the teachers to follow our wishes and adopt the Schoolwide Program option was delivered to Principal Vinal to be presented to the teachers.
During the week of April 23rd, MCSM faculty members and paraprofessionals held their vote on the same question. Regretably, slightly less than half of those who voted chose to stay with the Targeted Assistance option. As a result, MCSM will once again be a Targeted Assistance school for 2007/2008.
Conversion to the Schoolwide Program option is also favored by the school administration. At both the School Leadership Team and PTA meetings on April 17th, Principal Corinne Vinal outlined a thoughtful program for how the Title I funds would be used if the parents and teachers both voted to change from Targeted Assistance to a Schoolwide Program. A few days later, a petition with 60 parent signatures asking the teachers to follow our wishes and adopt the Schoolwide Program option was delivered to Principal Vinal to be presented to the teachers.
During the week of April 23rd, MCSM faculty members and paraprofessionals held their vote on the same question. Regretably, slightly less than half of those who voted chose to stay with the Targeted Assistance option. As a result, MCSM will once again be a Targeted Assistance school for 2007/2008.
Resolution Opposing the Latest Public School Restructuring
At the last PTA meeting, the Executive Board unanimously approved and signed the petition below expressing its opposition to the Chancellor's latest restructuring initiatives, Fair Student Funding and Children First. These programs represent the third major restructuring of the NYC public school system in the last three or four years, creating unnecessary and unwarranted distractions and organizational confusion while doing little or nothing to solve the real problems of the City's schools. The signed petition has been sent to Mayor Bloomberg, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, our district's representative on the City Council Melissa Mark Viverito, City Councilman Robert Jackson (Chairman of the City Council committee on education), David Bloomfield (President of the Citywide Council on High Schools), and Tim Johnson, President of the Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council (CPAC).
The Executive Board of the Parent Teacher Association at Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics High School does herewith attest that:
Whereas we have reviewed the Chancellor’s plans for organizational restructuring and school funding as embodied in the Children First and Fair Student Funding plans, and
Whereas New York City schools have borne multiple restructurings in the last several years, including the elimination of Community School Boards and replacement by virtually powerless Community Education Councils, the creation and now proposed elimination of regional structures, imposition during the school year of revised schedules and allocation of teachers’ time, and introduction of the Empowerment Zone concept for a portion of the public school system, and
Whereas nearly all of these past restructurings as well as the proposed Children First and Fair Student Funding initiative focus primarily on organizational and administrative structure rather than teacher and classroom initiatives (such as class size reductions) that could positively impact student learning and performance, and
Whereas the Department of Education has provided no statistical or comparative performance evidence on the Empowerment Zone initiative from which assurance could be derived that further such organizational restructuring will result in improved academic performance and adequate funding for teachers and student programs, and
Whereas the Department of Education’s most recent classroom initiatives have consisted largely of adding, or proposing to add, still more standardized testing that tends to discourage free-ranging intellectual exploration and alternative assessments, and
Whereas we as members of the Parent Teacher Association’s Executive Board and School Leadership Team have observed that the Department of Education’s constant restructurings have forced unwarranted distractions on our school’s senior administration rather than allowing them to focus on student learning and teacher supervision, and
Whereas the full budgetary implications of Fair Student Funding are unclear and promise to create incentives (or even impose budgetary restrictions) under which principals may choose (or be financially impelled) to hire lower-paid and less experienced teachers rather than retain more expensive and experienced teachers, to the detriment of our children, and
Whereas principals are being forced to make structural management decisions based on inadequate information, and those principals in turn are asking the parent community for their input while being able to provide only sketchy outlines of how these alternative programs would work and how they would affect our children, and
Whereas the academic and support requirements of those most in need – Special Education and Special Needs students and English Language Learners – are largely overlooked in the chaos and confusion of repeated restructurings, and
Whereas in these latest initiatives, the Department of Education has continued its disappointing practice of management by administrative fiat, ignoring the wishes of the parent community, refusing to compromise, and repeatedly failing to solicit the input of the constituencies most severely affected by these changes – parents of public school children and their teachers,
Therefore, be it resolved that the Parent Teacher Association of Manhattan Center of Science and Mathematics joins other NYC Parent Associations and Community Education Councils in declining to support the Children First and Fair Student Funding proposals. Furthermore, we call upon the Mayor and Chancellor to postpone implementation of this plan and arrange for public hearings on the priorities for education spending, school restructuring, and processes for meaningful participation of public school parents in formulating these policies.
Passed by the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics High School Parent Teacher Association Executive Board, April 17, 2007.
The Executive Board of the Parent Teacher Association at Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics High School does herewith attest that:
Whereas we have reviewed the Chancellor’s plans for organizational restructuring and school funding as embodied in the Children First and Fair Student Funding plans, and
Whereas New York City schools have borne multiple restructurings in the last several years, including the elimination of Community School Boards and replacement by virtually powerless Community Education Councils, the creation and now proposed elimination of regional structures, imposition during the school year of revised schedules and allocation of teachers’ time, and introduction of the Empowerment Zone concept for a portion of the public school system, and
Whereas nearly all of these past restructurings as well as the proposed Children First and Fair Student Funding initiative focus primarily on organizational and administrative structure rather than teacher and classroom initiatives (such as class size reductions) that could positively impact student learning and performance, and
Whereas the Department of Education has provided no statistical or comparative performance evidence on the Empowerment Zone initiative from which assurance could be derived that further such organizational restructuring will result in improved academic performance and adequate funding for teachers and student programs, and
Whereas the Department of Education’s most recent classroom initiatives have consisted largely of adding, or proposing to add, still more standardized testing that tends to discourage free-ranging intellectual exploration and alternative assessments, and
Whereas we as members of the Parent Teacher Association’s Executive Board and School Leadership Team have observed that the Department of Education’s constant restructurings have forced unwarranted distractions on our school’s senior administration rather than allowing them to focus on student learning and teacher supervision, and
Whereas the full budgetary implications of Fair Student Funding are unclear and promise to create incentives (or even impose budgetary restrictions) under which principals may choose (or be financially impelled) to hire lower-paid and less experienced teachers rather than retain more expensive and experienced teachers, to the detriment of our children, and
Whereas principals are being forced to make structural management decisions based on inadequate information, and those principals in turn are asking the parent community for their input while being able to provide only sketchy outlines of how these alternative programs would work and how they would affect our children, and
Whereas the academic and support requirements of those most in need – Special Education and Special Needs students and English Language Learners – are largely overlooked in the chaos and confusion of repeated restructurings, and
Whereas in these latest initiatives, the Department of Education has continued its disappointing practice of management by administrative fiat, ignoring the wishes of the parent community, refusing to compromise, and repeatedly failing to solicit the input of the constituencies most severely affected by these changes – parents of public school children and their teachers,
Therefore, be it resolved that the Parent Teacher Association of Manhattan Center of Science and Mathematics joins other NYC Parent Associations and Community Education Councils in declining to support the Children First and Fair Student Funding proposals. Furthermore, we call upon the Mayor and Chancellor to postpone implementation of this plan and arrange for public hearings on the priorities for education spending, school restructuring, and processes for meaningful participation of public school parents in formulating these policies.
Passed by the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics High School Parent Teacher Association Executive Board, April 17, 2007.
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