March 21, 2020
Dear families,
As members of CEC 2, we write with the hope you and your family members are holding up well during this trying and challenging time. We are in uncharted territory as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, and we as a school community must figure out how to be safe, how to make the best decisions for everyone in our broader community, and how to help our children navigate this new world they live in.
In district 2 we are extraordinarily lucky to have so many talented, dedicated teachers and administrators who have spent the past week preparing to transition our students to remote learning that will begin on Monday. As a council we want to acknowledge and thank all of the teachers, principals and staff who reported to schools last week to take on the herculean task of developing and implementing remote learning plans as well as ensuring our students in need have access to meals. You are amazing and inspiring.
Remote Learning
Remote learning will begin on Monday the 23rd. You should have received or should soon receive direct communication from your child’s school with instructions. District 2 began planning for this transition in early March and all of our students have access to devices which will allow them to participate thanks to the careful planning of our district leaders.
Please note that if you have no way of connecting to the internet from home, you can request a device from the DOE by filling out the Remote Learning Device Request at: https://coronavirus.schools.nyc/RemoteLearningDevices
There are several options for free wifi at the moment if your student needs wifi to participate. Click here for more information
Additionally district 2 has partnered with Teaching Matters, a NYC-based non-profit organization to develop a distance-learning curriculum prototype. The Teaching Matters mission is to ensure that all teachers are well-prepared, confident, and effective with the diverse students they serve. They focussed on creating a learning sequence for all content areas (including visual arts, dance, and physical education) that is student-facing (as opposed to teacher facing). The level of interactivity and inviting, kid-friendly techy-ness is to be applauded. Second, the Superintendent’s team took great care to weave in culturally responsive and sustaining materials into the readings, videos, and tasks. Please note that your child’s teachers/school may elect to develop their own video lessons, tasks, or use other readings. This curriculum is not mandated for use. Rather, our district team and principals had the opportunity to contribute expertise and feedback in order to help Teaching Matters create a resource for all teachers in our city, and we excitedly did so.
The DOE has also provided this learning-at-home page to assist parents who are looking for more options for their students’ home learning.
Students with IEPs
If your child has an IEP, you should have already received or will receive a call from your school sometime next week to discuss the IEP and the remote learning plan for your child.
Regional Enrichment Centers
For first responders, health care providers and transit workers, Regional Enrichment Centers will offer childcare and remote learning with their peers from 7:30AM to 6:00PM with three hot meals a day. To enroll, fill out this form.
Meals for children
Next week, grab-and-go meals will be available at 450 Grab-and-Go sites from 7:30AM to 1:30PM. Families can pick up breakfast, lunch and dinner at once, and no identification or registration is required. Families can find a meal hub location online (see below) or by calling 877-877 FOOD. Parents can pick up meals for all of their children at any site. There will also be supplies and materials available at these sites for those who need them.
You can find the site nearest you at https://www.communityfoodadvocatesnyc.org/covid19 or use the address look up at https://www.opt-osfns.org/schoolfoodny/meals/default.aspx
Here is a list of Food Hub schools in District 2
P.S. 001 Alfred E. Smith, 8 Henry Street
P.S. 002 Meyer London, 122 Henry Street
P.S. 041 Greenwich Village, 116 West 11 Street
P.S. 042 Benjamin Altman, 71 Hester Street
The American Sign Language And English Secondary School, 223 East 23 Street
J.H.S. 104 Simon Baruch, 330 East 21 Street
P.S. 111 Adolph S. Ochs, 440 West 53 Street
P.S. 126 Jacob August Riis, 80 Catherine Street
P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto, 143 Baxter Street
Stephen T. Mather Building Arts Craft, 439 West 49 Street
P.S./I.S. 217 Roosevelt Island, 645 Main Street
M.S. 260 Clinton School Writers & Artists, 10 East 15 Street
Battery Park City School, 55 Battery Place
Life Sciences Secondary School, 320 East 96 Street
Manhattan Academy For Arts & Language, 111 East 33 Street
Urban Academy Laboratory High School, 317 East 67 Street
Stuyvesant High School, 345 Chambers Street
High School For Environmental Studies, 444 West 56 Street
School Of The Future High School, 127 East 22 Street,
M.S. 131, 100 Hester Street
Resources
Elected officials (Borough President, Council members, State Assembly Members and Senators) are sharing resources and information via regular emails to constituents. To find your representative, go to http://www.mygovnyc.org/ and then contact your representatives’ offices to sign up.
Text “COVID” to 692-692 for Notify NYC alerts.
Text “New York” to 81336 for updates from the Governor’s Office.
State tests
The federal requirements for State testing have been waived due to the Covid-19 pandemic and related school closures and as a result the NYS Department of Education has suspended the New York State Elementary- and Intermediate-Level State Assessments for the Remainder of the School Year. See link below: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D_El4-p-xCI0Q4XRaNYkHBahoSMtWkUO/view?usp=sharing
CEC meeting 3/26/2020
CEC 2 will hold our calendar meeting and working business meeting on March 26th at 6:30pm via Zoom. The zoom link to join the meeting is located on the agenda on our website.
As always we look forward to hearing from everyone!
Stay safe and be well.
Best,
Community Education Council members of District 2
