new acting principal for ps 295

By Joyce Szuflita
A lot of strong schools in several neighborhoods have been getting new principals for the past couple of years. Sometimes it is because the principal is retiring, sometimes they have been offered a position that is too good to pass up. Usually the school will do a search for the right candidate, inside their school as well as outside. Being a Assistant Principal is not like being "Vice President" or the first runner up for Miss America. They may be a likely candidate, but the job of Principal is not a natural career progression for everyone. More than half of the new principals below came from outside the school community.

Shout out to Lena Barbera at PS 20 in Ft. Greene, Eve Litwack at 107 in the South Slope, Rebecca Fagin at PS 29 in Cobble Hill, Eric Havlick at PS 154 in Windsor Terrace, and now Linda Mazza at PS 295 in Greenwood Heights.

I wrote about the process of getting a new principal in "When Your Beloved Principal Leaves". You can read more about Ms. Mazza on the school's website.

I loved this quote from an active PS 295 parent, "She really gets kids and understands how things work in the classroom--I'm so glad we'll be putting her experience and insight to work for the school as a whole (though, selfishly, I'm sorry to lose her as one of my son's classroom teachers!)"

The Diverse Schools Dilemma

By Joyce Szuflita
I am reading "The Diverse Schools Dilemma: A Parent's Guide to Socioeconomically Mixed Public Schools" by Michael J. Petrilli and I am riveted.

He is the executive vice president of the Thomas B.Fordam Institute a think tank focused on K-12 education policy, and executive editor of the journal "Education Next". He is also a father living just outside Washington DC in Tacoma Park, MD (self described as Berkeley East... I thought Park Slope was Berkeley East!). Looking for a socioeconomically and racially diverse school in a vibrant, urban neighborhood that is experiencing gentrification.

He works through the studies, but this is not a dry recitation of stats. He asks the questions everyone asks - in a nutshell - "Will a diverse school slow down my child?" The answer is, not if it is the right school and there are many pieces to the 'right school' puzzle. The first part of the book lays out the many pros and cons. The end of the book gives some guidance about to how to assess your own choices and second to the last chapter entitled: How to Gentrify a High Poverty School...interesting. I haven't finished yet, but my next blog will be about those last chapters and how they fit our situation here in Brooklyn. It is a terrific short read and well worth the $10 to upload to your new holiday Kindle.

gifted and talented over-offer at PS 32

By Joyce Szuflita
First let me say that PS 32 is blameless in this fiasco. Last year, their first year with a g&t kindergarten, PS 32 in Carroll Gardens had a small under capacity classroom. Over the 2011/12 year, PS 32 gained a reputation as a strong, happy and conveniently located program. This year many families placed it high on their g&t wish lists. The DoE, seeing that last year, there was a less than 30% registration rate, decided to assign 70 students to the classroom, thinking that only a small percentage would actually want to attend. They didn't realize that the school had become a "go to" program in the district in one short year.

So what is happening at PS 32 today? They already have over 30 families registered with more coming. They are registering all families through the June 5 deadline and trying desperately to find out what to tell the families to calm their fears. Families are worried that they won't be able to attend the school that they chose and were placed in. Many of these families have already been saddened by the fact that there are not even close to enough seats in the city wide schools that they qualified for, but they were happy to have this new local option that looks so promising.

PS 84 is building a greenhouse classroom

By Joyce Szuflita
PS 84 in Williamsburg is holding their 2nd Annual Garden Party on June 2, 2012 from 11-4. They will be unveiling their state-of-the-art hydroponic laboratory classroom. This is the first stage for them in their fundraising efforts to build a rooftop Greenhouse Classroom. They plan to partner with NY Sun Works, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the concepts of urban sustainability and environmental science to NYC's schools. 

"This Greenhouse Science Laboratory will serve as an alternative, hands-on classroom. It is built around a 21st-century sustainable urban farm and will be a place for students to grow food, while learning about nutrition, water resource management, efficient land use, biodiversity, conservation, pollution, waste management, and sustainable development. The Greenhouse Classroom will also include hydroponic growing systems, a rainwater catchment system, aquaponics, a weather station and a vermi composting station."