Dear BCS Students/Families, we hope you had a lovely first weekend of April. We had an incredible March Madness Rep Your Flag Dance – thank you to Christina B and all the staff who helped make it a reality. We also hosted a Lighthouse Visit at the school on Wed, showing our promising practices to other city teachers and district staff.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Donate to help BCS – PTA funding helps with ETs, dances, campus visits, camping, etc.
- Are you having a good BCS experience? We had a full March with two dances, ETs, Mathlympics – next month, we’ll have campus visits, camping, our students vs. alumni game, etc. Please donate generously to help supplement the school budget to put on all these amazing activities for our community!
- We ask our PTA for support regularly to put on school events and for staff requests for their classroom and for professional development
- Please donate via Paypal and donate whatever you can to our PTA Annual Appeal to support BCS
Check out the March issue of the BCS newspaper – The Collaborative Chronicle!
- So proud of our student contributors – The Collaborative Chronicle March issue
- Jade and Isabella (Grade 7), Adonis (Grade 9), Zoe and Leah (Grade 10), Jorge (Grade 11)
- Want to write for newspaper? Email newspaper@bcs448.org with your article idea!
Parents/guardians – Please take the DOE NYC School Survey
- Every year, the DOE asks all families, teachers, and staff in grades 3-K through 12, and students in grades 6-12 to take the NYC School Survey. The information collected by the survey is designed to support a dialogue among all members of the school community about how to make the school a better place to learn.
- The 2023 NYC School Survey launched on February 13, 2023 and will close on March 31, 2023.
- Take the 2023 NYC School Survey (Open external link) – parent password is fOSIS, eg. lower case f = OSIS number = f123456789
- Families can also access the survey by logging into their NYC Schools Account (NYCSA).
Upcoming Dates
- Thurs 4/6 – Fri 4/14 – No School – Spring Break (school resumes on Mon 4/17)
- Wed 4/19 – Thurs 4/20 – NYS ELA Exam (Grades 6-8)
- Fri 4/21 – No School – Eid al-Fitr
- Tues 5/2 – Wed 5/3 – NYS Math Exam (Grades 6-8)
- Lower Grades ETs:
- 3/16
- 3/30
- 4/27
- 5/18
- Upper Grades ETs and Crew Trips:
- 4/19
- 4/20
- 5/2
- 5/3
- 5/17
MS State Tests are coming up
- The New York State (NYS) grades 3–8 English Language Arts (ELA) and math exams will be administered on April 19–20 and May 2–3, respectively.
- Students in Grade 8 can elect to take the Algebra Regents instead of the Grade 8 Math exam.
- Exams are not required for promotion.
- If parents wish to opt out their child out of testing, please complete this form as soon as possible.
- During MS testing dates, HS students have Expeditionary Thursdays so that we can leave the building and provide a quiet testing environment for students.
Working papers – get ready for summer jobs
- https://www.bcs448.org/working-papers/
- All students between 14 – 17 years of age must get an employment certificate in order to work.
Tues 4/25 Social Dilemma Panel at 4pm in the auditorium – all parents/students welcome
- All parents, students, staff welcome
- We are screening the documentary The Social Dilemma about challenges with increased social media on our society and youth. The screening is 45 min and we will have a panel afterwards with BCS staff, students, and our staff developers.
- https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/
- Sundance Official Selection – The Social Dilemma blends documentary investigation and narrative drama to disrupt the disrupters, unveiling the hidden machinations behind everyone’s favorite social media and search platforms.
$$ Apply for Summer Youth – deadline April 14
- The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) is the nation’s largest youth employment program, connecting NYC youth between the ages of 14 and 24 with career exploration opportunities and paid work experience each summer.
- Through SYEP, participants can explore different interests and career pathways, develop productive workplace habits, and engage in learning experiences that strengthen their social, civic, and leadership skills.
- By participating in structured project and work-based opportunities, NYC youth are better prepared for careers of the future.
- Apply here
- School name: Brooklyn Secondary School for Collaborative Studies
Summer Research Program on the Hudson River for HS students
- The Institute Discovering Environmental Scientists (TIDES) and Mid Hudson Young Environmental Scientists (MH-YES) are paid summer field and laboratory science experiences where participants work in teams to conduct water and land-based research along the banks of the Hudson River and local streams. Students work with educators and scientists to formulate scientific questions, gather field and lab data, and do their own analyses. The goal is to help students explore environmental research as something they might want to do in their future studies and work.
- Application Deadline: May 14, 2023: https://hrnerr.org/tides/
$$ Youth Health Promoters – HS students
- At Planned Planned of Greater New York, Youth Health Promoters are paid teen educators who travel all over New York City to facilitate sex ed workshops, such as birth control, HIV/STIs, and condoms. Teen applicants can apply via the electronic version of the application through our bit.ly link: (). Deadline for completed applications is Friday April 21