City School District of New Rochelle
News & Updates
February 26, 2021
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COVID-19 Testing
License Granted; Parents' Insights Sought for Middle, High School Plans
This week, Interim Superintendent of Schools Dr. Alex Marrero and his cabinet held two virtual Town Halls regarding student re-entry plans at Isaac E. Young Middle School, Albert Leonard Middle School and New Rochelle High School, including the Alternative Campus High School.
These hour-long meetings were opportunities for District parents, guardians and community members to ask questions, share concerns and learn more about the potential for students in grades 6-12 to return to the classroom more frequently than the District’s current hybrid-learning model. Each session began with a short presentation, followed by a Q&A session.
 
During the Town Hall, Dr. Marrero announced that the District recently received a license to perform on-site COVID-19 laboratory testing beginning March 17. He also shared information regarding a
(Please see "Town Hall" below.)
Click on image above for full-size version.
Black History Month Celebration Explores Lincoln School Case
Students across the City School District of New Rochelle have been creating art work and preparing performances to commemorate the city’s 60-year-old Lincoln School desegregation case for this year’s Black History Month celebration.

The community will view the celebration virtually at 4 p.m. tomorrow, February 27, on a special page on the District’s website. The page will be accessible from the District’s homepage, www.nred.org.

The celebration will offer a wide range of art, from a mural called “Celebrating Us” by kindergarten students at Henry Barnard Early Childhood Center, to spoken word performances by New Rochelle High School students.

“They are really looking at the contemporary effects of the Lincoln School decision and trying to put themselves in the place of those who have been impacted by it,” said Candace Pinn, President of the Westchester Alliance of Black School Educators.

WABSE is presenting the annual event in conjunction with the District and the Black History Month Committee.

In addition to enjoying the arts, visitors will be able to purchase items in an “African and Diasporan Arts Marketplace.”

In the 1961 Lincoln School ruling, Judge Irving R. Kaufman of the Southern District of New York agreed with the plaintiffs’ claims that the New Rochelle Board of Education had created and maintained a racially-segregated school. Kaufman ordered the school board to submit a desegregation plan in compliance with the 1954 Supreme Court Decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas.

The Lincoln School was torn down in 1964, but its attendance zone has never been erased. Students from the zone attend four other elementary schools based on parents’ preferences and schools’ available space.

The Black History Month celebration coincides with “Quest for Justice,” a series of events presented by the Lincoln Park Conservancy also commemorating the case.

The artwork and performances will explore the impact and resonance of a pivotal moment in the District’s history that nonetheless was all but forgotten for decades. That began to change a decade ago with the 50th-anniversary commemoration. Organizers hope to ensure that people continue to learn about the case.

“Here it is 60 years later now and people are still surprised to hear about it,” Pinn said. “This should not be a surprise to anyone.”
Next Generation
Of Leaders Being Mentored at IEYMS
For Isaac E. Young Middle School eighth-grader Rebeca Marin Perdomo, the diversity and inclusion lessons were clear. 

“People don’t realize that we are all people and that our skin color is not all that defines us," she said. "Also, because one certain person does something doesn’t mean everyone else does it as well. People should not be so judgmental and should actually get to know a certain person before assuming something.”

As part of their participation in a program called the Student Leadership Movement (SLM), Marin Perdomo and six other IEYMS students have engaged in discussions, participated in skill-building activities and listened to powerful guest speakers this academic year.

Perdomo’s reflections were inspired by a recent meeting, when the students heard from Dr. Alexandria Connally, Director of Equity, Inclusion and Innovation for Nyack Public Schools. The message also hit home for Carina Tomas Lopez. 

“We should appreciate who we are and love who we can become," she said. 

Created by Today’s Students, Tomorrow’s Teachers (TSTT), a leadership and educational program previously only available to high school students, SLM provides activities and service opportunities that foster the development of leadership skills to eighth-graders as part of the regular school day. 

SLM was developed to enhance the TSTT program by including a middle-school enrichment component. The program integrates TSTT activities throughout the school day, and provides an increased focus on leadership from grade eight through high school graduation.

The program’s expansion to middle school age was good news for IEYMS.

“We are very excited to be able to offer our students the opportunities offered by this organization,” said Assistant Principal Plinio Trujillo.

Research shows that children who participate in service-learning activities develop a significant and positive connection to their community and schools. Data also suggest that such activities can improve the ethical character of a student, increase students’ cognitive engagement in English-language studies and lead to higher scores on standardized tests than students who did not participate.

In addition, benefits of the SLM program include higher attendance rates, greater confidence in public speaking and taking on peer leadership roles, higher average GPAs than non-leadership participants and a smoother transition to high school, among others.
Register Your Child For Magnet and Pre-K Lotteries, and for Kindergarten
Registration for the 2021-2022 school year for your little one is starting soon! Parents and guardians can now enter lotteries for their child to enroll in the City School District of New Rochelle’s magnet and universal pre-kindergarten programs. Kindergarten registration has begun as well.

Magnet programs operate at Daniel Webster Magnet School (arts and humanities), Columbus Elementary School (science, math and technology) and Henry Barnard Early Childhood Center (early childhood). They are open to all students throughout the District, based on available space.

The lottery will take place March 15 and will be managed online. To enter, visit the Magnet Program page. Complete an application for each child seeking placement. Parents and guardians will be notified if selected and given time to make their choices and complete registration. 

Universal pre-kindergarten is a New York State grant-funded program to prepare 4-year-olds for kindergarten. All New Rochelle residents with children born in 2017 may apply for an open lottery seat at either Barnard or an approved community-based organization. Learn more on the District’s Universal Pre-K page and click here to enter the lottery.

For additional information regarding magnet programming, call the Office of Curriculum and Instruction at (914) 576-4300, ext. 39136, or email [email protected].

The District is pleased to announce that its website has been updated to highlight registration, magnet programs and universal pre-K. To read updates, please visit www.nred.org and hover over the Community tab then select Magnet Program, Universal Pre-K or Registration.

Kindergarten Registration started on February 8. Parents can pick up an application at any school or visit www.nred.org to print the registration packet. If parents need support with the registration forms, assistance is available through our Registrar Support Centers after 4 p.m. Check nred.org, the District website, for locations and contact numbers, or email [email protected].
The Pupil Personnel Services Department administers the registration process under the guidance of its Director, Millicent Lee. “Our main focus is making sure the process is welcoming for all parents in the district and seamless as we transition to an online platform.” 

For registration information, contact the Office of Curriculum and Instruction, (914) 576-4300, ext. 39136 or [email protected]. 

Here you will learn more about ongoing registration for students now and for incoming 2021-2022 kindergarten students, universal pre-kindergarten and magnet lottery students. The page will highlight our current practices as we move toward an online registration process. 

Here you will learn more about magnet programs offered, how the lottery works, inclusive of deadlines to enter the lottery, and be able to register for virtual open houses.

Here you will learn more about the universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) and magnet lottery, community Pre-K Providers, and be able to register for a virtual open house.
Yaffa Segal learning about honey bees at the Greenburgh Nature Center.
Senior's Sweet Success:
Lead-in-Honey Research Aids International Study
Two years ago, New Rochelle High School student Yaffa Segal began testing for heavy metals in honey from beehives around the region. Now, her research has taken on an international buzz.

Segal’s work, conducted for the NRHS Science Research Program, is a key piece of a study led by the University of British Columbia. The research examined samples of bees’ nectar from Paris to New Zealand to show how the sweet substance can be used to help map pollution.

Segal, a senior, learned that the scientists were considering the study when she first contacted the university in Vancouver, Canada to get ideas for her own project. She was allowed to contribute to the study.

“They were excited to get honey from different sampling sites in the United States,” Segal said. She gathered some 50 samples, mostly from Manhattan, but also from the Bronx, New Paltz in Ulster County, Long Island, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

Segal is one of six authors listed on the study, “Regional and global perspectives of honey as a record of lead in the environment.” It was posted in January in the journal Environmental Research, which is produced by the medical and scientific information giant Elsevier. Segal is the only high school student among the authors, a standing the report points out, noting, “This study also demonstrates the utility of a community science effort for honey collection.”

For the Science Research Program, Segal’s accomplishment shows that the young scientists’ work not only earns awards in competitions with other high school students, but also can rank with research professionals.

"Yaffa's accomplishment is so exciting. She is now considered a coequal among professional scientists,” said Jeff Wuebber, the head of the Science Research Program. “Yaffa shines a light upon distant shores, redefining what is possible for all future science research students."

Among other findings, the study affirmed that lead, once used widely as an additive in gasoline and paint, remains concentrated in areas of intense human activity, particularly older cities.

“For the New York data, they found the distance from urban centers has an effect,” Segal said. “The levels of heavy metals decrease almost exponentially as you move away from the urban areas.”

Honey makes a good marker because it contains a record of the pollutants the bees encounter when they travel up to two to three kilometers from their hive.

“When a bee flies through the air, a lot of pollutants can get stuck on its fuzz and make its way into the honey,” Segal explained.

Even before collecting samples, Segal learned about Apis mellifera, the western honey bee, by contacting a beekeeper friend at the Greenburgh Nature Center, where she has volunteered for years. She suited up in protective gear to learn how to handle the insects in their human-made hives.

“I was definitely nervous when I first opened the hive, but I've always been kind of a tree hugger, and bugs never freaked me out too much,” she said. “Typically, bees are really docile, so much so that you can scoop them up in your hands and you won't get stung. I was also wearing a full bee suit, so the risk was fairly low.”

While examining samples, she made interesting discoveries, such as one honey sample with an isotope identical to the lead found in bullets. Further examination provided a clue to the coincidence.

“When I looked, the hive was on top of a police station,” she said. The precinct had its own beekeeper.

In the end, her research and that of the others in the study laid a foundation for further exploration. The report’s conclusion reads, in part, that its findings provide “a sound starting point for building current baseline data for honey as a biomonitor for metals in the regions discussed here and provides a global famework for (lead) isotopic compositions in honey, which is useful context for more localized studies,” the report’s conclusion reads in part. 
Volunteer to Help for WESEF Practice Night
The Science Research Program invites you to help with WESEF Practice Night.

On Thursday, March 4, at 7 p.m., the students in the program will present their research in a virtual meeting to practice for the Westchester Science and Engineering Fair (WESEF), the largest local science fair in the nation. The program seeks volunteers to serve as practice judges, ask students about their research and provide feedback.

No science background is required.
To learn more about the evening, click on the image in the upper right corner for a full-sized version.
From left: Social Studies Department Chair Gustavo Barbosa, Social Studies teacher Francisco Sandoval; English teacher Olga Locke and English Department Chair Lydia Adegbola.
NRHS Classes Combine
To Study Powerful Poem From Biden Inauguration
For New Rochelle High School students, poet Amanda Gorman’s message was clear: This is a time for children to speak out and be heard; their opinions matter and their feelings are profound.

Gorman, the brilliant 22-year-old Harvard graduate, lent these reminders while reciting her poem, “The Hill We Climb,’’ at President Biden’s inauguration on January 20. 

As Gorman’s words whistled through the capital and nestled into living rooms across a divided America, kids listened. And when they were presented with the perfect forum to express their views, they delivered -- including at NRHS.

There, 75 students in three classrooms dissected Gorman’s messages of hope and change as part of a team project organized by the English and Social Studies departments. English teacher Olga Locke and Social Studies teacher Francisco Sandoval, who had teamed up on a previous project, led discussions about the poem. 

“I asked the kids, and 95 percent of the class said they watched the inauguration,’’ Sandoval said. “There are a lot of problems in the country, but instead of dwelling on them, they are trying to figure out how to fix them.’’

“This was something that we needed to analyze together given the historical background and the literal background,’’ Locke said. “And what better moment to do it than during Black History Month?’’

Locke asked students why their favorite excerpt resonated. Here are some lines from the poem, with the reasons students chose them:

We will not be turned around
Or interrupted by intimidation
“I would choose this line,’’ Samantha Mira wrote, “because she is saying that no matter what, we won’t stop fighting for what’s right and will not let anything or anyone make us feel like our fighting is pointless.’’

If only we’re brave enough to see it, 
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
“It explains thinking negatively about how we could have been brave enough to do what we want,’’ Melissa Moreno wrote. “Instead, we become cowards and sit aside. But what we should be thinking is if we were brave to be what we want to be, then we can set out of the darkness and rise to fight.’’

We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace.
“Telling us that being quiet and not using our ability to speak is not going to solve anything or bring peace into this world,’’ Destiny Ruiz-Vasquez wrote.

The project also represented creative teaching and keen department leaders – Lydia Adegbola (English) and Gustavo Barbosa (Social Studies) – as well as a supportive and open-minded District. 

“To be a teacher at a time when students can see themselves in short stories or books or poetry is an amazing thing,’’ Locke said.

Seeing those students open their minds and hearts represented a whole other level of beauty. Where Gorman wrote; We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,/we must first put our differences aside, New Rochelle freshman Corey Wanamaker concluded: “If we want to move on and improve, we all must come together as one.”

The poem had such resonance that it has become the theme of another project. Laurie Collins-Thomas’ African American Studies Class and Nikyta Knott’s African American Literature Class, in conjunction with the NRHS Black Culture Club, is planning a student-driven open forum to discuss the poem. The forum will also discuss the historic references in the poem as well as recent events that have polarized the country. (Read more about the forum in next week’s e-newsletter.)
Artists! Apply for PAVE Program at NRHS
Applications are open for the Performing and Visual Arts Education (PAVE) program at New Rochelle High School.
 
Students in grades 8, 9 and 10 can apply for the dynamic, arts-centered program. Participants major in a specific art form – dance, music, theater or visual arts. Admission is by audition.
 
Information on the program and auditions, as well as the application and a video, can be found here: https://sites.google.com/view/nrhsarts 
 
The deadline to apply is March 12, 2021.
Town Hall
(continued)
parent survey that will be distributed next week that will help determine how students in middle and high schools may return for in-person instruction four days a week. The District combined elementary-school-level cohorts beginning February 11, and is evaluating its success as a metric to inform its plans for future re-entry of the upper grades.
 
Nearly 70 participants joined the February 23 session, with many asking questions related to maximum
capacities for classrooms while accounting for individualized schedules, particularly for high school students; District health and safety protocols, including performing COVID-19 testing in school buildings; and strategies to protect students’ social and emotional well-being under the plans being considered.
 
Many similar sentiments were echoed at the February 25 session, which attracted 118 participants. Discussion included Regents and state-mandated testing; logistics of combining the three current high-school cohorts; and expectations regarding vaccinated teachers and students under in-person instruction.
The District appreciates the insights it received during the sessions and will continue to keep the community updated.

You can watch the meetings here:
City School District of New Rochelle | http://www.nred.org/