Letter from Pete re: Ta-Nehisi Coates' Important New Book

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I hope all is well with everybody.  I am writing today as I think about how to develop and improve our ability to engage in powerful and transformative discussion in and outside of school.  This year parents and teachers separately have shared their thinking about adolescent sexuality, students are discussing sexual harassment and gender identity, and now a small group of teachers have started to identify our best practices for discussing race and racism, both of which appear in our curriculum at nearly every age level.

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Letter to families

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Dear ICE Families:

At this time of year I spend time thinking about the positive moments of the fall and early winter, and planning for more to come in 2016. This fall we have heard from students and seen student activism and organization at unprecedented levels at I.C.E. Students are working to develop school-wide lessons and discussions topics to address improving how we speak to, and about each other in and out of school.

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Join Battle of the Bands Comittee

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Over the years we have had the tradition of hosting a Battle of the Bands to allow NYC middle and high school rock and pop bands the opportunity to play a real NY club for kudos and small prizes.  We have not had an event for 2 years and are looking for help to get it up and running. Ties to the music industry welcome but not necessary.  Please email Lisaburdige@gmail.com if you are interested.

The I.C.E. Library

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Shane Fleming and Ava Hanadel who will both be 7th graders are heading up this project. They have already received a batch of books from the New York Times and raised 1800 dollars to date. 
 
What We Need
Here are some of the things we need:
A computer to scan checked out books, take inventory and all the other stuff on a computer a librarian needs to do.
Someone to get the mice out, but not kill them! because that would be mean.
Stuff to make the room hospitable and get a swifter sweeper so we don't have to breathe in the 100 year old dust which seems to be bringing back my cough-varient-asthma.
Some bean bags so we don't have to read on an old concrete floor that’s probably covered in fossilized mice poop.
Getting books---of course.
Repainting the room so we can get rid of the graffiti.
We need to get one of those slide-ey ladders so we don't have to painstakingly drag the ladder to get where we need to go and then just falling off the ladder.
 
Read the complete story, watch the video and donate at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-i-c-e-library#/

We will be raising funds all summer and into the early fall!
 
Thank you,
ICE Library Team

I.C.E. TALK

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Hello ICE Community,
 
"ICE Talk" is a new discussion group for ICE parents at Google Groups. It is an open forum for all of us to share information, discuss current events relevant to our school and our kids, and be in touch with one another. 
 
Meibell Contreras and Sebastian Delmont, parents of Maya in 602, are in charge of the group. Visit the group on the web at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ice-talk
and subscribe directly.

I.C.E. on the Radio

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Dear ICE families:

 
This report aired this morning on WNYC: http://www.wnyc.org/story/how-one-high-school-substitutes-student-work-state-tests/
 
I hope you will be as honored as I am that WNYC identified ICE as a school that provides a successful alternative to high stakes tests to demonstrate proficiency towards high school graduation. A journalist from WNYC/ NPR attended our Neuroscience Exhibition two weeks ago, and to her credit she observed 2 rounds of presentations and interviewed students, teachers and parents. While the real story goes much deeper, I thought Ms. Fertig represented ICE and performance-based assessment positively. ICE students Micki Lee Coleman-Palansky, Kira James, Asha Reed-Jones and Zander Buswinka deserve more than a shout out for their effective descriptions of their work, and the process that they most recently completed for their 11th Grade Science Graduation Requirement. 
 
There will be more to come on the subject of performance based assessment. We are entering a phase as a community in which we will all need to represent our choice to be part of this approach to assessment and instruction while the NYS Board of Regents decides how to vote, and how to advocate in Albany. As always, your voices need to be heard, as do the voices of our students like those in the radio report. I hope you will join me as we advocate for what we practice at ICE.
 
Take care for now
 
Pete