It’s that time of year again– New York children everywhere will soon be back to school. But did you know that there are 15,000 homeless boys and girls in New York who don’t have the school supplies they need to succeed? The Coalition for the Homeless started a project three years ago to help those kids in need– “Project: Back to School.” (more…)
Today’s New York Times features the story of vastly different leaders of St. Ann’s School—outspoken founder Stanley Bosworth, and the reliable yet low-key Larry Weiss. Bosworth is lauded for his vision; Weiss for his stability. Now with Weiss moving on, there’s a new leader in town.
The school ended up choosing Vincent Tompkins, a deputy provost at Brown. His mission is to steer St. Ann’s somewhere between the seat-of-the-pants style of its founder and the more measured tack of his successor.
“This is a place that is very deeply understood by all the members of its community,” Mr. Tompkins, 48, said. “The challenge is, when a school is built around a powerful set of ideals, how do you sustain the ideals and not lose sight of innovation?”
Dr. Weiss has been appointed head of the Brooklyn Friends School. It will be a bit of a homecoming for him: he worked as a teacher there in the 1970s, when Mr. Bosworth was creating St. Ann’s.
Mr. Tompkins knows he has an easier job than his predecessor. When being vetted by the board, he met with students and told them, “It’s easier to be Thomas Jefferson than John Adams.”
What do you think the future holds for St. Ann’s with the new headmaster?
The search for the third person to be head of St. Ann’s School is over.
New York Times: Saint Ann’s School, the prestigious and progressive Brooklyn Heights school, has selected Vincent Tompkins, the deputy provost of Brown University, to be its new headmaster.
Mr. Tompkins, 48, who takes over on July 1, said he was drawn to the school by the students’ “remarkable sense of confidence and joy about learning.”
The founder of St. Ann’s, Stanley Bosworth, served as headmaster from the School’s opening in 1965 until 2004. He was succeeded by Lawrence Weiss, previously head of the Horace Mann Upper School in the Bronx, who, according to the Times article, “signed on for five years but stayed an extra year at the board’s request.” Tompkins holds a PhD. in history from Harvard, and taught history there before becoming an administrator. He later was made Deputy Provost at his undergraduate alma mater, Brown.
There’s a happy ending, as the two six-year-olds were found after school personnel noticed their absence Tuesday afternoon. According to this NBC New York article, the boy and girl were found “about a block and a half away from the school…standing in the pouring rain…some 25 minutes later.” However, the article quotes a school spokesperson as saying “the students were not even a block away from the campus when they were located.”
Today, according to the article, Principal Seth Phillips “met with the [students'] parents, offering an apology and promising to investigate.” He also promised this sort of thing wouldn’t happen again.
This in from the PS8 PTA:
Eat, Drink, Bid! PS8 will host its annual action, sponsored this year by the Brooklyn Heights Association, tomorrow night starting at 6 pm at Plymouth Church. Buy a weekend in Montauk, a week’s retreat at a Vermont Country house, or even dinner created by none other than Principal Seth Philips! Read all about it at www.ps8pta.org.
Plymouth Church is on Orange Street, between Henry and Hicks.
City Council Member and City Comptroller candidate David Yassky has sent a letter to Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein urging them to become involved in the site selection process for a new middle school in this area. Based on his review of documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request, Yassky charges that the School Construction Authority, which has recommended placing the school in the controversial proposed Dock Street high rise in DUMBO, has failed to exercise due diligence in examining possible alternative sites. The full text of Yassky’s press release follows the break. (more…)
This fall, there will be a new preschool and Kindergarten in Brooklyn Heights — Congregation B’nai Avraham is expanding its popular Kiddie Korner program with new space at the corner of Montague and Clinton streets for infant and toddler daycare, and a Kindergarten class in the Remsen Street synagogue.
The 3,500-square foot space is in the former City Market Café and is the ground floor of the new condo building at 166 Montague St., and is scheduled to finish construction by August and open on Sept. 1. For PDF renderings, click here [pdf], and a flyer is here [pdf].
On Thursday, April 2, the PS 8 PTA will host its third annual auction to raise money for the school’s enrichment programs.
Parents and the public are invited to the event, which is at Hillis Hall at Plymouth Church (75 Hicks St., at Orange Street) and starts at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $50 in advance and $75 at the door, and are available through the PTA’s website.
The 2007-2008 NYC DOE’s Progress “Report Card” for P.S. 8 can be found here. Notice the chasm of difference between PS 8′s performance relative to City-wide schools and Peer-wide schools, particularly in the School Performance section. Whereas it is an “F” school compared to it’s “peers”, it looks like around a B or a B+ school compared to the city as a whole.
I should also note that the list of schools considered “peers” to PS 8 has changed from last year, with some added and some placed in other “peer” groups. If the peer groups change from year to year, and one doesn’t find out until the report is published, this seems to be like a moving target for a school. What if the next year they consider your “peer” to be the elementary school equivalent of Harvard?
Another difference between the 2008 report and the 2007 report is that in 2007 Student Performance counted for 30% of the grade and Student Progress counted for 55% — in 2008, Student Performance counted for 25% and Student Progress counted for 60%. So, the importance placed on performance from year to year has gained even more undue influence on the grade.
We received from a “Blkn Tipster” what looks like a letter from Saint Ann’s officials sent out to the parents of the school, where it seems they are okay with the Probation Office move: (more…)
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