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12/6 – Family/Student Update

Dear Families,

We hope you had a restful and safe weekend.  These are very challenging times and we are sending love and strength to all our students and families.  If there is anything you need, please reach out to Scill, Imani, Tracey and your child’s crew leader and we are here. 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

DOE Announcement – middle/high schools remain in all-remote until further notice

    • Middle/high schools remain in all-remote through at least Dec 2020 – elementary schools re-open blended learning on Mon 12/7 (NOT BCS)

 

  • Although there is no official announcement yet, there is some talk by the city that middle/high schools may likely remain in all-remote until at least Feb 2021 to give the city an opportunity to prioritize re-opening elementary schools safely

 

  • When blended learning eventually re-opens, no student will be permitted to return to the school building without a signed COVID-19 consent form for in-person learning. You can provide consent electronically by visiting mystudent.nyc. You may also find COVID-19 consent forms in all DOE languages here

 

College March is Fri 12/11!  

  • In honor of our annual College March celebration, we’re giving Class of 2021 seniors much love for being at this milestone in their journeys – having applied to colleges by this point!  
  • We will share our schoolwide Padlet for the whole community to see shortly.  This includes shout outs to each of our amazing graduating seniors!
  • The NYC Outward Bound Schools Virtual College March is Fri 12/11 – seniors will participate in a private Zoom event.  Everyone else is welcome to watch on Facebook Live on Fri 12/11 from 12pm-12:30pm (we’ll share the link later this week)!
  • GO BCS CLASS OF 2021!!!  You are persisting through extraordinary/unprecedented times and you are college bound!!!

 

Additional crew period beginning this Friday 2:30pm, continuing every week in all-remote

  • We are adding an additional crew period each week Fridays 2:30pm while we are in all-remote in addition to Weds Crew
  • In normal times back in the building, students had crew daily for 30 minutes.  We hope more crew time in virtual allows students to build community and get academic check-ins with their crew and crew leader

 

Unselfie by Michelle Borba – Parent Virtual Book Club

  • Are you interested in talking with other parents about how to raise successful, happy kids who also are kind, moral, courageous, and resilient? Why is a lack of empathy so dangerous, and how can you develop deeper empathy in your child?
  • Join school leaders Scill and Imani at our December Virtual BCS Family Book Club for a scintillating discussion of the book UnSelfie by Michelle Borba— a terrific blueprint for parents who want kids to shift their focus from I, me, and mine…to we, us, and ours.
  • Bring your questions, comments, suggestions, words of wisdom, and more as we grapple with what does it mean to raise an adolescent, particularly in these unprecedented times.
  • Here is the Introduction and the epilogue so you get a taste of the book!  You do not have to purchase the book to participate in the Family Book Club. However, if you are interested in reading UnSelfie in its entirety, you may purchase the book at your local bookstore and on Amazon. UnSelfie is a wonderful read!
    • WHEN: Thursday, December 17th TIME: 6:30 p.m.
    • RSVP to get the Zoom link: Contact imani@bcs448.org

 

Free New York Times Subscription for High School Students

  • All Upper Grades students received an email with subject “Activate your free New York Times subscription” – please search your email and click button in the email to activate a free NYTimes subscription for the year
  • All UG students got this invitation (it was only valid for high school students, not middle school unfortunately)
  • Ask Eddie@bcs448.org if you have any questions
  • The NYTimes is a great resource for current events and resources

 

Help your child develop healthy tech habits

  • Teachers will do our best to make deadlines only Mon-Fri 8am-5pm, instead of using the default 11:59pm time in Google Classroom
  • We want students to develop health habits of work within reasonable hours
  • Use nighttime phone settings which include features like Do Not Disturb, a red shift, etc. The newest iOS update has a “Wind Down” feature prevents late night disruptions if your child sleeps with their phone nearby

 

Progress reports will be sent home – snapshot will be taken Mon 12/14 at 12pm

  • We will mail home progress reports one more time before final grades are due in January
  • We will mail home the PupilPath snapshot on Mon 12/14 at 12pm

 

Spirit Monday 12/7 – Favorite Socks

  • Please send rpc@bcs448.org a photo of you and your favorite socks to post on tomorrow’s Instagram!