ICE Community Lunch 

/

The first Community Lunch was a wonderful success - teachers and students from all grades gathered together to share food, laughter, and lunch tables! Beautiful dishes were prepared by staff members, a parent volunteer, and were set up & cleaned up by the Community Service Club.

We want to extend the invitation to contribute food to a Community Lunch to you all. If you'd like to participate, please fill out the form below and select a date that is convenient for you. You will receive a confirmation email that will include the reminders below. We will create a Community Lunch at least once a week, and your help is invaluable!

(Students are welcomed to join with their home lunch if they prefer to bring their own).

If you would like to help, please see the information below:

1. Here is the google form, please fill it out (** takes 1 minute)!

2. Please drop off donations at one of two times on the day of the community lunch:
(1) morning advisory: 8:00-8:20
(2) 10:30am-10:45am
During either of these times, someone will be waiting at the 16th St. ICE entrance, with a cart, ready to bring your food upstairs.

3. For ease of serving, we ask that you please send your donation in a full or half size aluminum sheet pan (like this).

4. Please label your dish (this is especially helpful for students with food allergies).

Thank you in advance!
 

ICE Parent Volunteers Needed 

/

SPRING FLING TEAM

  1. Donation Assistant (1 Volunteer) Enter donor and donation info onto Bidding For Good
     

TREASURERS-IN-TRAINING
Treasurers-in-Training – 1 volunteer, 2hrs/wk @school, rest online

  1. Spearhead the development of the PTA budget with the Administration & PTA Co-Presidents

  2. Maintain a record of all income & expenditures by the PTA

  3. This is a shared role that is why we need 2 parents (Join with a friend). Two hours a week at school during school hours. Everything else can happen at home, online using QuickBooks and PayPal. We will show you everything you need to know.


FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE
Join the team, help mange the fundraisers we currently have and bring in new fundraisers.
Fundraising Committee Team Members  (3 volunteers to join the team)

VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR
Volunteer Coordinator – Call for volunteers for event as needed, update volunteer page on the website


For a full list with detailed descriptions of opportunities visit our website to view the "Parent Life" tab or click Volunteer Opportunities now.


Calling All High School Students Aged 16+  

/

Beam Center* is gathering a select team of motivated young makers and builders to make the first ever NYC Beam Project! The NYC Beam Project is a spectacular, architect-designed project for public display in NYC. Project Fellows will learn new building skills and tools, interpret plans and blueprints, and lead teams of younger children and other community members to build the project. More info and application here.


*Beam Center is the Brooklyn-based parent organization of Beam Camp, a STEAM/Maker camp that some ICE students have an affiliation with.

Calling For All Used/Refurbished Cell Phones   

/

THE NEPAL AND MALAYSIA INTERNATIONAL YOUTH MEDIA GROUPS
ARE ASKING PARENTS, STUDENTS, AND FRIENDS OF ICE TO DONATE
THE CELL PHONES THEY NO LONGER USE.

• NO, WE DON’T NEED THEM TO MAKE PHONE CALLS. 
• WE NEED THEM FOR THEIR PICTURE TAKING ABILITIES!
THE NEPAL AND MALAYSIA INTERNATIONAL YOUTH MEDIA GROUPS WILL BE SHARING THESE USED PHONES AS CAMERAS FOR THE CHILDREN THEY WORK WITH IN NEPAL & MALAYSIA!

SO PLEASE, IF YOU HAVE ANY OLD CELL PHONES, SMART PHONES ETC. WITH PICTURE TAKING CAPABILITY, PLEASE HAVE THEM BROUGHT TO JEFFREY (the International Youth Media Advisor/Program Director) in room 419B. 
• Please be sure the phones – as cameras – work.
• It would also be helpful if each phone-camera donated came with a charger.
• Also, VERY IMPORTANT, please be sure to include the code to access the cell phones.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Jeffrey.


ICE PAC (Parent Action/Education Advocacy Committee

/

From New York State Allies for Public Education:

Last month, NY State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia asked the Board of Regents to approve a new $225,000 grant from the Gates Foundation for “enhanced communication” efforts around the standards, testing and data collection --  to convince parents that State Ed is on the right track in all these areas. 

The new standards that the NY State Education Department has adopted are still developmentally inappropriate and little different from the last set of standards. There is still too much emphasis on flawed high-stakes testing.  Moreover, NYSED has failed to enforce the state student privacy law, passed in 2014-- though the legal deadline for implementation was more than four years ago.  Meanwhile, NYSED’s own data system has been audited twice by the NYS Comptroller, and found to be highly insecure and vulnerable to breaches.

PLEASE CLICK HERE to TAKE ACTION and DEMAND that the Regents give back the Gates funds. Instead of trying to sell parents us on State Ed’s  policies, include parents in authentic decision-making on all issues affecting our children, including standards, teacher evaluation, and privacy. The State Education Department should also be barred from any effort to expand student data collection until the 2014 student privacy law has been fully enforced and the SED’s own data system made secure.

 

Family Program in St. Croix Over Winter Break 

/

Wouldn't you like to relax on tropical sandy beaches and learn about ancestral skills and get to know like minded people?

Learn about friction fire, making natural fiber, basket making, shelter building, gourd containers, primitive pottery, spear fishing, medicinal and edible plants, water purification, archery and much more!

Earth Living Skills is collaborating with Caribbean Earth Skills to run a family program in St. Croix over winter break 2019, February 17~22.  

We will all stay at Mt. Victory Eco-Lodge, in a lush forested farm valley.

$775.00 or $1,375.00 for first family member, $275.00 or $375.00 for each additional family member (depending on if you choose to stay in a tent of bungalow)
Meals are included, air fare is not. Flights to STX range from $300 to $700 round trip depending on the date of travel.
Suitable for ages 7 and up, younger children are welcome.
Space is limited so please register as soon as possible.


Please find more details and register here

Thank you, Natalie Vantuyn, ICE Teacher

Senior Internships 

/

Thank you for helping spread the word about internships--the response from parents this year has been really great!

Several ICE seniors are still looking for leads for internship opportunities in fields they are most passionate about. Please contact Internship Coordinator Josh Torpey if you or someone you know may be able to offer one of our students help making a connection in any of the following areas!

Women's health / reproductive rights / advocacy organizations
Software / coding
Science labs (plug: every year our superstar seniors intern at labs with professors and grad students and knock their socks off!)
Specifically, neuroscience or chemistry labs
TV/ film / commercial production
Journalism
Public interest law
Youth education / advocacy
Writers' / literary organizations
Marine biology / ecology
Urban planning
Political science / history
Photography
Statistical / data analysis
Sports data analysis
 
Thank you!