City School District of New Rochelle

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Dr. Feijóo Outlines Plan for Taking District Helm
Dr. Laura Feijóo, the City School District of New Rochelle's incoming Superintendent, told the Board of Education this week that she will build on the District's Strategic Roadmap with concrete benchmarks after talking a deep, comprehensive look at the school system.

Using the Roadmap as starting point, she plans to add "SMART" (Strategic, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) benchmarks to guide the 11,000-student school system.

"My plan is to take the Roadmap to the next level and create SMART goals that are measurable and that reflect what was intended by these statements throughout the plan," she said at the Board meeting on Tuesday as she presented her plan for entering the District. She will take the District's helm on Nov. 1.

The objectives, laid out in the Roadmap, are to provide a high-quality and challenging education in safe and supportive schools with supurb staff. Engagement and outreach and resource management support those goals, she said.

"We have to know that across the schools, kids have access to the same rigor and curriculum as the kids in each and every other school," she said. "Each school has to have a learning plan that directly correlates with the measurable objectives."

While she does not take the position for another month, Dr. Feijóo's transition is well under way. She has spent at least one day in the District each week since July, meeting with key officials and groups, including the school principals.

She has learned much already and has heard universal praise for the teachers.

"One thing I have heard from almost everyone is that the teachers and the teaching and the work that goes on here is amazing," she said. "They love their teachers."

In her first months as Superintendent, she plans to audit the curriculum, visit classrooms, review benchmark data, assess the implementation of cultural competencies and more. She plans to meet with leadership teams, teachers, the PTA and students.

"I will meet with students in roundtables or student events to really hear their voices in this process," she said.

Board of Education members praised the plan.

"It's a bold commitment to the Board and the community," Board President Amy Moselhi said. She commended Dr. Feijóo for rising to the challenge of preparing to take the District's helm, and added, "I am really looking forward to partnering with you on these important issues."
Cheerleading Clinics Open to Grade School Students
Grade school boys and girls who want to learn how to be cheerleaders will have three chances with the annual New Ro Junior Cheer Clinics in the New Rochelle High School gymnasium.

Children in kindergarten through fifth grade will learn at three all-day sessions, on Oct. 14 (Columbus Day), Nov. 11 (Veterans Day) and Dec. 27 (during winter recess.) New Rochelle cheerleaders and coaches will teach cheers, dance moves, basic tumbling and more in the clinics, which helps raise money to travel to the UCA National High School Cheerleading Championship in Orlando, Florida in February.

The NRHS cheerleaders have made it to the nationals every year for the past 21 years.

Participants in the clinics also have the opportunity to perform on "show night" in February, when the cheerleaders put on a performance just before leaving for the national championship.

"The younger students really admire the junior varsity and varsity cheerleaders," said Melissa Begendorf, the head junior varsity cheerleading coach. "A lot of them are younger siblings."

The clinics cost $50 for one and $140 for all three if registered by Oct. 2. To pre-register, email newrojvcheer@gmail.com for a registration form to sign up.

Registrations after Oct. 2 will be accepted based on availability.
NRHS is in
News 12 School Spirit Showdown
Here's a chance to show your Purple Pride!

News 12 is holding its annual School Spirit Showdown and New Rochelle High School is in the running again. Vote now, and vote frequently. The rules of the contest allow you to vote every 20 minutes.

The contest runs through Oct. 21, as four winners are chosen, but the cable station will announce the first winner on Oct. 7.
So check it out. And go New Ro!
Sports Schedule
For upcoming New Rochelle athletic competitions, check out  NewRochelleAthletics.org*

* This link connects to an outside website

Dates to Remember
Monday, September 30:  Rosh Hashanah, District Closed

Tuesday, October 1:  Rosh Hashanah, District Closed

Wednesday, October 2:  ALMS Back to School Book Fair 

Wednesday, October 2:  Columbus PTA Fundraiser Begins
 
Wednesday, October 2:  Ward Grade 5 Broadway Trip

Wednesday, October 2:  Ward Read-A-Thon Begins
 
Wednesday, October 2:  Webster Costume Exchange Begins

Wednesday, October 2:  Webster International Walk to School Day

Thursday, October 3:  Webster Picture Day

Thursday, October 3:  Jefferson PTA Meeting, 3:30 p.m.

Thursday, October 3:  NRHS PTA Tailgate, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, October 3:  Campus School Back to School Night, 7 p.m.

Thursday, October 3: NRHS Meet the Teacher Night, 7 p.m.

Friday, October 4: Ward School Spirit Day
 
Friday, October 4: Webster Picture Day
 
Saturday, October 5: SAT 8 a.m.

Students Extend Greetings, Make New Friends
For 'Start with Hello' Week
Students greeted their schoolmates with smiley stickers and colorful welcome signs, performed random acts of kindness and reached out to make new friends for Start with Hello Week.

It all began Monday, when several schools throughout the City School District of New Rochelle joined in the national Sandy Hook Promise initiative. The goal is to encourage students to build a stronger, friendlier community.
"We greet the students to make them feel confident and comfortable," said Isaac E. Young Middle School sixth-grader Sophia Fuentes.
 
Albert Leonard sixth-grader Naomi Mickens enjoyed the week, especially learning students' names and making a new connection with a schoolmate.
 
"I went over there and I sat with her and we made small talk and now we're friends," Mickens said. "If someone says 'hi' to me, I'm going to feel like they really saw me. I want people to feel like they've been seen."
 
Activities at both middle schools and several elementary schools included games that require students to meet and chat with someone new or to hand out compliments. At ALMS, a "kindness tree" bloomed on one wall; its "leaves" were colored paper cupcake liners in which students wrote messages of inspiration. Isaac E. Young, they posted thoughts and comments on a Positivity Wall.

"We do it so every student in our school has a friend and every student in our school feels a part of the learning community," IEYMS Interim Principal Dr. Tawanda Robinson said over the PA system Wednesday morning.

ALMS Principal John Barnes said feeling welcome in a school has an impact on a student's performance.
"We know that kids who are not feeling connected aren't getting as many good grades, and perhaps they aren't participating in after-school activities," he said. "We want kids to look out for each other."
 
At Henry Barnard Early Childhood Center, Start with Hello week capped a month in which the school focused on kindness, receiving encouragement to build their "kindness muscles" so they can help spread that friendly feeling wherever they go.  Jefferson Elementary School combined the initiative with Jefferson Cares Week, which builds students' social and emotional health.
 
In a fourth-grade class, teacher Tori Cooke guided a discussion about what each concept in the name of the week means - Considerate, Appropriate, Responsible, Educated and Selfless.
 
She asks the students to note when they perform certain acts, such as helping a friend who is having a hard time. As they focus on considerate acts, she said, "It hopefully just becomes natural to them."
 
Teacher Jennifer Vivolo-Carsen, who organized the activities at IEYMS, said the positive effects ripple well beyond the week.

"They're building strong relationships with kindness, and that carries throughout the year," she said.
New Rochelle ArtsFest
To Showcase
NRHS Students' Work
When ArtsFest sweeps into town with a weekend-long celebration of arts Oct. 4-6, New Rochelle High School students' works will be on display in several venues.

The annual event, sponsored by the New Rochelle Council on the Arts, offers opportunities to enjoy creative works throughout two communities - New Rochelle and Pelham.
Here's where you can see NRHS students' works:
  • Student volunteers will be doing face painting and pumpkin painting at Hudson Park Children's Greenhouse, Saturday, Oct. 5, noon-3p.m. The park is on Hudson Park Road.
  • The Museum of Arts & Culture in NRHS features works of PAVE guest artist Frank Buddingh', who is also an arborist. PAVE 1, 2 and 3 students' charcoal drawings of trees, created after working with Buddingh', will be on display in the House 4 hallway, complementing his exhibition. House 4 is off Braemar and North avenues. Saturday, Oct. 5, noon-5 p.m.
  • A multi-media Poetry Project will be on display in the House 4 cafeteria during a Crafts Market. Students used poems as springboards for presentations of art, short movies, dance performances and augmented reality. Saturday, Oct. 5, noon - 5 p.m.
  • Students from PAVE 4 will stage a show of monologues and performance pieces called "Venti on the Veranda" on the patio at the Starbucks in the Wykagyl neighborhood, 1278 North Ave., Saturday, Oct. 5, 2-3 p.m.
  • Oil paintings created by PAVE 1, 2 and 3 Visual Arts students will be on display in the Queen City Art Gallery at Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital, 101 Glover Johnson Place. All weekend.
Students will also serve as docents at several venues.
ALMS 'Pay it Forward' Club Cleans Shore at
Five Islands Park
Abandoned shopping carts no longer lingered by the rocks at Five Islands Park, and the area was strewn with less litter than in the past. Still, the Albert Leonard Middle School Pay it Forward Club had enough to do when they came out for their annual beach cleanup last Saturday.

"We have less than last year, which is really a good sign," said eighth-grader Jonah Fishman, the club president.
They did find some oddities among the more common cigarette butts and plastic cups, including a full set of dentures. Sixth-grader Gabby Cohen found two fishing poles.
"We never find the rods," said faculty advisor Sara Yeterian. "We often find the line, but not the rods."

L.L Bean, which offers stand-up paddle board and kayaking lessons at the park, donated gloves to help students pick up litter and debris safely, and bags to carry it all off in.

Gabby Grandini, a fifth-grader at William B. Ward Elementary School, took part with her older sister, Isabella Grandini. The older sibling took part in the beach cleanups while attending ALMS; she graduated from the school in June.

For the younger Grandini, spending the day working by the sea is good preparation for her future plans, to become a marine biologist.

"If you want to be a marine biologist, you want to take care of the planet, and the animals."

It was a crew of siblings. Sixth-grader Skye Fishman joined after hearing his older brother Jonah talk about the activity.

"He says all good things about it," Skye Fishman said.
Casa Calabria Society
To Honor  Dr. Parvey
The City School District of New Rochelle's own Interim Superintendent, Dr. Magda Parvey, will be honored by The Casa Calabria Society at its annual dinner dance next month.
 
The New Rochelle-based organization choose to honor Dr. Parvey for her community service. She is one of three honorees who will be celebrated at the dinner, the society's 84th annual gala, to be held at the Surf Club on the Sound, on Davenport Avenue. The others are: Bernardo Luciano, a businessman; and Louis A. Picani, president of Teamsters Local 456, in Elmsford.
 
"We chose Dr. Parvey for the good job she's been doing for the Board of Education, the schools, and the City of New Rochelle," said Domenic Procopio, the society's president. "She's very friendly and intelligent and everybody's talking about what a good job she's doing."