Greetings!
After three weeks of virtual instruction due to the surge of the Omicron variant, it was wonderful to have faculty and students back in the building on January 24th. New York State and New York City have made several changes to the COVID protocols for schools. In response, staff is working closely with families to keep everyone updated on current health and safety requirements. On January 26th, Lexington participated in the 4201 Association's Virtual Advocacy Day. I was so proud of our high school students and their poise in representing the school to state legislators. February's events included Black History Month and Random Acts of Kindness Week. I thank the faculty, staff, and students for their enthusiasm and contributions to these celebrations.
Sincerely,
Russell O. West
CEO/Superintendent
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Seniors Alexandra Quiroz and Julianna Vitucci and junior Kinverly Escotto represented Lexington during this year’s Virtual 4201 Advocacy Day on January 26th. The students and Lexington administrators Russell O. West, Jane Moran, and Frank Dattolo, met with representatives from nine legislative offices to discuss funding priorities for the upcoming state budget. As a 4201 school, Lexington relies on state funding to provide a tuition-free education. Lexington would like to thank the follow legislative offices for participating in the virtual meetings: State Senators Joseph Addabo (15th District), Michael N. Gianaris (12th District), and John Liu (11th District) and State Assembly Members Stacey Pheffer Amato (23rd District), Edward Braunstein (26th District), Alicia Hyndman (29th District), Zohran Kwame Mamdani (36th District), Jennifer Rajkumar (38th District), and Daniel Rosenthal (27th District).
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Each year, the Middle School students create a holiday video for the Lexington community. The production of this year's video, "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," included some special challenges due to COVID. Students had fun creating the video and selecting 60s & 70s-inspired attire for the filming. Special thanks to Stephanie Trollo, the PBIS Department, and the Middle School faculty and staff for their support. |
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Shaunina Young, Black Cultural Club Advisor, coordinated two weeks of special activities in recognition of Black History Month. Activities included wearing a name tag of a famous Black person, durags and bonnets day, wearing t-shirts in the colors of African flags, social justice day, and Black History facts you didn't learn in school. Speech Department Supervisor Kim Taylor posted quotes on Schoology throughout Black History Month to bolster pride in the accomplishments and wisdom of African Americans, past and present. Classroom teachers supplemented the school-wide activities with additional Black History readings and projects. |
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Kim Taylor read The Colors of Us by Karen Katz to students in Elementary 1 and then led a group activity in which students created paper dolls to represent themselves and their skin tones. |
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Kim Taylor wore a Harriet Powers name tag on Name Tag Day. Harriett Powers was a folk artist and quilt maker who was born into slavery in Georgia. Kim is a story quilter and was inspired by Harriet's beautiful quilts. |
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Andy Cruz Headed to Deaflympics |
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Congratulations to physical education teacher Andy Cruz, who has been selected by USA Deaf Basketball for the 2022 Men's National Team. Cruz, a 6'5" forward, will be representing the United States at the 24th Summer Deaflympics from May 1-15, 2022 in Caxias do Sul, Brazil. Cruz is the only team member representing the state of New York. For more information on the Summer Deaflympics, click here.
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Random Acts of Kindness Week |
Elementary 1 invited the entire school to join their Random Acts of Kindness mural in celebration of Random Acts of Kindness Week, February 13-19. The visual display reminded everyone to be kind at any and every moment. Thanks to teacher Jessica Sackman, IA Destiny Borrero, and Supervisor of Student & Family Engagement Carlos Aponte-Salcedo, Jr. for their coordination of this project.
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Lexington Prepares for Level 2 Thinking Maps Accreditation |
The 2021-2022 school year brings a revisited, systematic approach to teaching Thinking Maps. Cindy Roberts Figueroa, in her new position as Supervisor of Professional Development & Assessment, has trained numerous stakeholders throughout the building - new & tenured teachers; instructional assistant; and staff in the PPS, Business and Human Resources offices - on the use of the maps. The school is using the department planning and development meetings as a Professional Learning Community (PLC) and discussing teacher collaborations across and between departments.
Monthly usage of the Thinking Maps Learning Community (TMLC) map builder program has increased dramatically since the start of the year. Students and staff are more comfortable utilizing the program than in previous years. With the entire school using the program, it will be much easier to collect evidence needed to gain Level 2 Thinking Maps accreditation by the end of the year.
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New teachers have been introduced to Thinking Maps over the course of several workshops. |
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Maureen Tillwitz, HR Director, and Laura Cruz, PPS Director, participated in Thinking Maps workshops. |
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Mr. Wilcox's fifth grade class has definite opinions about snow! The class has been discussing this popular winter topic while learning to use the Thinking Maps Learning Community website to create Thinking Maps. The students are learning to write an opinion piece and will be exporting what they create about snow in the Thinking Maps website into a journal in Book Creator.
Thinking Maps is a set of 8 visual patterns that correlate to specific cognitive processes. They are used across all grades and content areas to build critical thinking, problem-solving, comprehension, and communication skills for academic success.
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Teacher David Wilcox (center) and IA Myriam Andrade (far right) are using Thinking Maps to help students improve their writing. |
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Students used a Tree Map to classify
their opinions about snow.
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Meggi Smith, Family Liaison, sends thanks to the 65 family members who signed up for the January Virtual ASL classes. The next session of classes will begin in mid-March. Families are encouraged to visit the updated Family Enrichment page for helpful information and resources throughout the school year. Click here to link to the page.
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Student Art & Essay Exhibit |
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Each year, the New York State Education Department honors Dr. King's memory by inviting schools to submit student art and essays that reflect Dr. King's Six Principles and Steps of Nonviolence. Elementary students from teacher David Wilcox and IA Myriam Andrade’s class and teacher Tracy Kaufman and IA Danny Biland’s class participated in this year’s exhibit. Click here to see their work!
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Chella Man Presents at SEL Workshop |
Lexington was privileged to have Chella Man present to Lexington faculty and staff as part of the school's Social Emotional Learning (SEL) workshop series. Chella Man is an American actor, model, artist, YouTuber, and LGBTQ activist who portrayed mute superhero Jericho in the second season of the DC Universe series Titans. Chella Man shared his life experiences as Deaf, transgender, Chinese, Jewish, and genderqueer. He provided tips and strategies for how educators can support students with different, marginalized identities.
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