February 16, 2017

EPS Celebrates Black History Month

The Elizabeth Public Schools professional learning community is one of the most diverse urban school communities in the State of New Jersey. The collective efforts of students and team members from a vast number of races, ethnicities, and cultures help maintain our standard of excellence as we continue to pursue our vision of being one of the highest performing urban school districts in the nation.

Among the groups who have made valuable contributions to our school district, our greater Elizabeth community, our state, and our nation are African-Americans who we celebrate during the month of February in recognition of Black History Month.

In the pages ahead, you will see how schools throughout our district have promoted awareness during the celebration of Black History Month of the significant accomplishments of African-Americans, past and present, to all facets of American life. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.)

Nicholas S. LaCorte – Peterstown School No. 3

With the theme of the Harlem Renaissance, School No. 3 starts each day with morning announcements including relevant pieces of information that chronicle the various people, places and events of the Harlem Renaissance.

An assembly, featuring the life of Langston Hughes, highlights the significance of the Harlem Renaissance to the history and development of the African American culture in the United States and includes the performance of music, dance, and poetry of the era.

Various grade levels are focusing on different aspects of Black History, including recounting the events of Ruby Bridges and her impact on education in our country, researching the impact of Freedom Quilts on the Underground Railroad, researching and writing commentaries to be read during for morning announcements, writing biographies about Black Americans who made important contributions to society, and writing essays about the importance of celebrating Black History Month.

Joseph Battin School No. 4

School No. 4 third grade students will research famous African Americans and present their research to their parents by creating a wax museum. The wax museums will be created in each of the third grade classrooms. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.)

Mabel G. Holmes School No. 5

The preschool students of Mabel G. Holmes Annex 5B have made posters and quilt pieces based on someone from African American history. The quilt pieces are being put together to make one big quilt for the school. The posters will decorate the gym for School No. 5’s upcoming Black History Show. Each classroom also made inventions that would be displayed in the school gymnasium.

School No. 5 will host a program named "Rise Up," in which the preschool students will perform skits, songs, and an African American show and Eighth grade students will be performing two African dances.

Toussaint L’Ouverture – Marquis de Lafayette School No. 6

African American History Month is being celebrated at Toussaint L’Ouverture – Marquis De Lafayette School No. 6 through morning announcements which highlight achievement of people of color and a Black History Month Show, in which students will perform songs, poems, dances, and skits to showcase the achievements and culture of African-Americans. iPrep Academy School No. 8

School No. 8 is having a celebration on February 24 for Black History Month, in which students will perform songs, dances and poems. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.)

Jerome Dunn Academy School No. 9

Every morning during African American History Month students are treated to a new African American fact of the day.

As the historical fact is shared with the scholars and team members of Jerome Dunn Academy School No. 9, beautiful are played in the background on the violin.

Elmora School No. 12

During the month of February, the students at School No. 12 will be celebrating Black History Month by starting every morning with an inspirational quote from an African American that will be read during morning announcements.

The sixth and seventh grade LEADS classes will research and write an essay about a famous African American from history who persevered in spite of significant challenges. They will use a wide range of electronic, primary, and secondary resources in order to conduct their research.

All students of School No. 12 will view Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s renowned, “I Have a Dream” speech. Class discussions following the viewing of the speech will focus on the importance of respecting others and connecting with the school wide initiative of “Filling each other’s Buckets”.

Abraham Lincoln School No. 14

School No. 14 fifth grade classrooms will be turned into wax museums honoring the contributions of African Americans to our society as well as the achievements of African Americans in their respective fields. Students in grades four through six will be a part of creating and viewing the wax museums. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.)

Christopher Columbus School No. 15

Highlighting School No. 15 African American History Month is the yearly African American History Bowl. The school community assembles for a question answer competition of facts. Students are selected to compete in a game show like format as staff and students watch students compete for the gold!

Each day for the month of February famous African Americans are highlighted in morning announcements and each student and staff member was given an inspirational chain to commemorate African American History Month.

Madison – Monroe School No. 16

In celebration of Black History Month, the hallways of School No. 16 will provide the landscape for students to view the culminating research and reports of prominent African Americans who have made major contributions to society.

John Marshall School No. 20

The School No. 20 learning community will celebrate Black History Month by participating in a musical chairs competition involving teachers and middle school students. The competition will include African music and classical jazz that is performed by African American musicians. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.)

Victor Mravlag School No. 21

Student activities for African-American History Month included morning announcements on African Americans who made outstanding contributions to America, posting pictures of prominent African- Americans in cafeteria and gymnasium, creating a large banner for the front of the school announcing African-American History Month, middle school students writing poems modeled on Langston Hughes, students in fourth through eighth grade writing "I Am From...“ poems, students in lower grades completing a variety of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. activities, and art and music students discussing and making posters on the origins of jazz.

William F. Halloran School No. 22

Among the highlights of BHM activities were students designing African- American bio-brochures by researching the life of a prominent African-American, including: early life, education, contributions to society, and obstacles. Through research, they reached a conclusion about that person’s legacy to our society. Using technology, students presented their finding in a visually appealing brochure. They also read and analyzed Martin Luther King Jr’s quotes, created a mural with images of Dr. King and their own original messages, created books on famous African Americans, and created bio-cards for a prominent African-American of their choice. Hallway bulletin boards in each classroom will display and reflect all of the wonderful projects and activities being done for BHM.

Nicholas Murray Butler Elementary School No. 23

School No. 23 students will put on performances including songs and dances as part of the school’s assembly celebrating Black History Month. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.)

Charles J. Hudson School No. 25

At Charles J. Hudson School No. 25, students celebrated African American History month in many different ways. During the morning announcements, students learned about an event in African American history that occurred on that date. In addition, School No. 25 incorporated African American folk music to its morning Jam a Minute exercise routine. In the student cafeteria, a display of Notable African Americans was created for students to view during lunch.

Seventh grade AVID elective students had a special visitor who shared her experiences from attending Lincoln University, a Historically Black University. AVID student representatives visited and invited each homeroom to select a Historically Black College/University to represent. The homeroom doors were then decorated with important facts about the chosen schools.

Dr. Orlando Edreira Academy School No. 26

First grade students have been reading stories about famous African Americans and completing activities such as bubble maps to review what was learned. They are also going to be assigned a project to create a small poster describing some basic facts about different African American heroes and will hang them in the hallway in a timeline in the hallway.

Students in second through fourth grade recently watched Brain Pop videos and completed an interactive assignment on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

As part of a unit on Jazz, third graders will be introduced the to the artwork of African American artists such as Romare Bearden and will discuss the influences on art of musicians such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louie Armstrong, and writers like Langston Hughes. We will be taking the third graders on a field trip to the Newark museum where they will learn more about important African American artists that have made an impact on American culture.

Fifth grade students will be researching and reporting on various African American heroes throughout the month during their Language Arts Literacy centers. In addition, they are starting a new International Baccalaureate (IB) unit focusing on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, Civil War, etc.

Technology students will have lessons on the Civil Rights, Jim Crow, the Tuskegee Airmen and the Underground Railroad. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.)

Juan Pablo Duarte – José Julián Martí School No. 28

School No. 28 will be celebrating Black History Month in many different forms. Several classrooms have all ready decorated the hallways with book reports on people who have done extraordinary things. During the morning announcements, short excerpts will be read about historical people and events pertaining to the African-American culture. To end the month, there will be an assembly that tells the story of the Underground Railroad and how spiritual songs were used as “codes” to inform slaves of when, where, and how to escape.

Dr. Albert Einstein Academy School No. 29

This year's theme for Black History Month at School No. 29 is #EmpowerYourself. This theme stems from the integral role women have played in the movements and advancements of African Americans while rarely getting the recognition they deserve. Throughout the month of February, School No. 29 will highlight various African American women who have been instrumental throughout not only Black history, but also American history.

Grades PK-1 will create place-mats featuring noteworthy women for the staff luncheon. Grades 2-8 will compete in a Door Decorating Contest celebrating these women. Students in Grades 6-8 will view the movie "Hidden Figures," which tells the story of 3 African American women who worked at NASA in the 1960s, helping launch astronaut John Glenn into orbit. The entire school will present its Black History Month Show featuring captivating performances by students and team members.

Ronald Reagan Academy School No. 30

Ronald Reagan Academy celebrates Black History Month with student art work, researching and writing about famous African-Americans, stating facts on the intercom daily of African – Americans’ contributions, updating a large calendar in the lobby and a host of activities. The Newark Boys Choir has been invited to perform along with the School No. 30 choir. After School Program students and Encore students will perform in a program at the end of the month. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.)

Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. Health and Public Safety Academy

ELL students will be creating digital presentations and writing expository essays on important African American people and their contributions to United States History. Other students will be creating a Black History Month display for the media center window depicting Black authors, poets, orators, etc. and will be reading a short story by a Black author of their choice and summarizing the story by creating a story board.

The Halsey R.I.S.E committee is sponsoring a decorate your day activity that will honor Black History Month, each door will be judged and the winners will be announced and given an award.

The Halsey JROTC cadets will be creating a display for the Halsey Main Office celebrating contributions made by African Americans to the Armed Services.

Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy

Students used technology during lessons while reading the story “Catching Fire”. The technology was used to finish reading tasks and answer questions on BlackBoard, to work in small groups and create an AVID storyboard, and to analyze literary elements such as conflict, characterization, and figurative language for designated chapters. Small groups of students worked collaboratively to organize and present ideas and used laptops to assist with inquiry about the literary elements and to complete storyboards. The lessons incorporated Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading to Learn (WICOR), a core AVID component, and concluded with students selecting five elements that are important to the plot, analyzing which conflicts are resolved and which are not, and speculating why the author concluded the novel in the way in which she did. EPS preparing students for college and life through One Love

Elizabeth Public Schools, through its partnership with the New York Jets Foundation, is preparing its seniors for life after high school by teaching them the importance of healthy relationships as outlined by the One Love Foundation.

Founded in 2010 to honor the memory of Yeardley Love, a University of Virginia senior who lost her life at the hands of a brutal assault by her former boyfriend, the mission of the One Love Foundation is to raise awareness about the consequences of relationship violence.

The pilot program, which will be launched from February through June, will include the presentation of a video to seniors along with small group discussions led by district mental health professionals that focus on developing healthy relationships and recognizing signs of unhealthy relationships.

The first phase of the program already took place when district guidance counselors, school social workers, child study team psychologists, early childhood social workers, and K-8 school nurses attended a workshop at which the video that will be shown to the seniors was presented by a member of the One Love Foundation. A select group of those who attended the workshop will present the video to the students and guide the small group discussions. EPS preparing students for college and life through One Love (cont.)

Elizabeth Public Schools Superintendent Olga Hugelmeyer believes this will be an impactful lesson for the district’s twelfth grade students who will experience significant life changes in their near future.

“Preparing our students to be successful in college and career opportunities also means developing their social and emotional skills.” said Hugelmeyer. “We chose to start this program with our seniors, because we felt they are soon going to be leaving the structured environment of high school and could apply key skills learned through this experience to navigate the more unpredictable and self-structured world of postsecondary education and the workforce.”

Elizabeth Board of Education President Stanley Neron thanks the Jets Foundation for helping to bring such an important message to Elizabeth Public Schools students.

“Taneka Bowles and the Jets Foundation have been outstanding in providing Elizabeth Public Schools students with wonderful learning opportunities, including the Play 60 initiative this past fall and now the One Love Foundation,’ said Neron. “Our students will undoubtedly benefit from the vital lessons of the One Love Foundation pertaining to developing healthy relationships and recognizing and avoiding the consequences of violent relationships.” EPS Hosts Leadership Seminar Presented by NUA

Carmen Jiménez from the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA) presented to Elizabeth Public Schools administrators at leadership seminars in January in ongoing professional development to set the school district on a path to ensure the continuous delivery of Equity, Expectations, and Excellence to all students.

Jiménez has served in many leadership roles in the New York City school system as well as Teachers College, Columbia University, Harvard University and Bank Street College. Her particular interests lie in the field of principal leadership; the work of principals in creating high performing schools and moving school improvement to scale through distributed leadership models.

The primary objective of the leadership seminar was to develop the values, knowledge and skills that all school leaders required to act as transformational leaders serving as catalysts for meaningful innovation.

The training focused on working from strengths, building relationships with teachers, students, parents, community, improving instruction that intensifies and accelerates learning for all students, and building a culture of collaboration. Playground Art Project, EPS Teacher Featured in NJEA Review

The playground art project at Toussaint L’ Ouverture – Marquis de Lafayette School No. 6, made possible with an NJEA PRIDE in Public Education grant, and Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy art teacher Edward D'Alessandro were recently featured in the February 2017 issue of NJEA Review.

The feature highlighted the work of D’Alessandro in overseeing the project, including how he guided his art students in creating the artwork on the School No. 6 playground and how the community came together to make the project a success.

The full story can be read by viewing the PDF of the February issue of NJEA Review at https://www.njea.org/njea-media/pdf/Review_Feb2017.pdf?1487180763075

School No. 20 Selected for Mercer Musical Theater Program John Marshall School No. 20 was one of only five schools in the Greater Newark Area selected to participate in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Mercer Musical Theater Program.

Students from School No. 20 will be among approximately 125 middle school students to participate in the program. As part of the musical theater residency, an NJPAC Teaching Artist will introduce students to the history of the American musical, lyric writing, and the reheasrsal and performance process. The residency, which conforms to New Jersey Common Core Standards, will meet twice a week for 20 sessions and will culminate with a final performance of an original musical at NJPAC in June. EQUITY As a nation, America’s Promise is that every child, regardless of race, ethnicity or social class, should receive a high quality, academically rich and rigorous public education. EXPECTATIONS The concept of high expectations is premised on the philosophical and pedagogical belief that a failure to hold all students to high expectations effectively denies them access to a high quality education, since the educational achievement of students tends to rise or fall in direct relation to the expectations placed upon them. EXCELLENCE Educational Excellence is defined as students performing at high levels or where students are making significant gains in academic achievement helping to prepare every child for global competitiveness. Student We believe ALL students can learn and achieve at high levels regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, neighborhood, household income or home language. ALL Means ALL. We will narrow the achievement gaps of students by providing a high quality education to ensure that ALL of our students are college and career ready.

Teacher We believe teachers make a positive difference in student achievement. Teachers will prepare ALL students for success in college, career, and our technological global society. We believe that teachers are central in a child’s life. Having an effective teacher is the single most important factor in student success.

Leader We believe that effective leaders demonstrate unwavering commitment to high levels of achievement for ALL students. Leaders will exemplify and support practices that promote high levels of achievement for ALL students.

Family We believe that parents and caregivers are both valued partners and active participants in their children's learning. A shared sense of mutual responsibility for learning is the foundation for family involvement to ensure student success. We are committed to engaging parents and caregivers in their children's education. We will develop a coordinated strategy that enables parents and caregivers to play an active role in building and sustaining family support for their children's learning and academic success.

Team We believe that every member of the Elizabeth Public Schools Team has a responsibility in producing and supporting high levels of achievement for ALL students. Every member of the Elizabeth Public Schools team will make a measurable contribution to the success and achievement for ALL students by ensuring