May Principal Newsletter
Dear RBS Family,
On April 27 it was our pleasure, to welcome Chancellor Richard Carranza to our school to our early childhood programs in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. He visited Ms. Serrano/Ms. Estrella and Ms. Michelle/Mr. Jose. The visit was outstanding as he moved from room to room seeing children engaged in learning stations/learning centers that were of interest to them. It is my judgment that Chancellor Carranza gained tremendous appreciation of a progressive philosophy and strong teaching practices he observed. All of us at the RBS thank the kids, families and educators from those classes for their exemplary service as models of academic excellence.
We begin this month by celebrating our wonderful staff and recognizing all mothers. The second week of May (the week of May 7 - 11) is Staff Appreciation Week. One of the nicest gifts a scholar or parent/caregiver can give a staff member is a letter of appreciation for a staff member’s file or a card. I accept letters throughout the school year and during the summer so please feel free to send these in at your convenience.
With the change in the weather and the increase in scholar activities after-school, we are seeing some overall changes in the upper grade scholars. Behavior is a little looser, homework is being missed and overall scholars appear to be ready for a summer vacation. The teachers and I have talked with scholars reminding them that we are looking for their best behavior in the classrooms, playground, bus, and all areas of their school day. We expect all scholars to behave in a respectful and safe manner. We are proud of them and their accomplishments and encourage scholars to finish their school year doing their best!
Thank you to those parents/caregivers who completed the School Survey. The responses from this survey are used to establish priorities for the school like how we can improve communication to parents/caregivers, enriching the existing curriculum and ensuring that the learning environments are inclusive for all scholars.
Many thanks to Mr. Blatman for all of his amazing efforts in sponsoring and coordinating the District 5 STEM Expo being held on Saturday, May 19th. This is the 10 year anniversary for the STEM Expo!!! We love seeing all of the projects and are pleasantly surprised to see new explorations! We are thrilled that this STEM Expo provides scholars an opportunity to collaborate on projects where they investigated something they were wondering about. Hats off to our budding scientists!!!
This is in response to certain parents/caregivers that have raised concerns about some faculty members. You can be assured that I am committed to having staff at our school that are dedicated to the program here. Naturally, I would hope that all staff members at the RBS support the vision, goals and purpose of progressive education. It is reasonable to expect that if a problem does exist relative to a staff member that I will address it. Teachers are dedicated professionals and should always be afforded the thought that they operate with best intentions towards our kids.
We want to wish all moms a very wonderful Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 13th.
There will be no school for scholars on Monday, May 28th in observance of Memorial Day. Thank you to all families who have lost a loved one or who has a loved one currently serving in the armed services on behalf of our country. We recognize the sacrifice that families make in support of loved ones who serve.
SAVE THE DATE
· Field Day at Randalls Island for grades 1 – 5 is June 1st
· PK Stepping up is June 22nd
· PK Field Day in Morningside Park is June 25th
· Kindergarten Moving up is June 14th
· Fifth grade Promotional Ceremony is June 21st
· Fifth grade senior trip is June 22nd
· [No school for students on June 7th, 11th, 15th]
· Last Day of School is June 26th (Kids are dismissed at 11:30am)
Educationally yours,
Reggie Higgins, Principal