The school year is underway and going smoothly! Staff PD ended with a strong sense of positive adult culture and eagerness for the changes we have implemented regarding literacy curriculums and Academic Leadership Team structures.
EOY Academic data is attached.
The Upper School has also kicked off with Markie as their School Leader in Residence and it feels collaborative. Problem solving as we grow and the new enrichment structures feels like a positive work in progress.
Before the beginning of the school year, we were anticipating receiving 324 students (goal was 338). We are currently a week into the instructional year and still working to confirm some no-shows as folks are still on vacation or possibly confused with the DOE start day of after Labor Day. As of today our total enrollment is 318 students.
The team is pivoting on recruitment strategies with an emphasis on kindergarten, as the grade is not yet filled. FYI there are: 43/52 kindergarteners, 47/52 first graders, 40/52 second graders, 50/52 3rd graders, 53/52 4th graders, 70/78 5th graders, and 15 sixth graders. Given the late response rate from the state re: middle school expansion, our rising 6th grade class went from 27 to 15, though we do not plan to backfill that cohort.
We received 2 K applications in the last 2 days (reflected in 43/52) and are trying to build on that momentum.
We have been invited by Brooklyn Bridge Parents present on behalf of our school at one of their events re: our K-8 model, so are planning to attend. Since the Non-Instructional Staff Recruitment Day did not yield the enrollment results we’d hoped, Team Ops is pivoting to efforts in Red Hook, though a challenge there is busing even though it is part of District 15.
Team Ops is also planning to do Parent Square related sessions at Sunset Park to help teach parents about our new communication platform, and they also plan to use that as an opportunity to engage in on the ground recruitment in Sunset Park. Overall, they are feeling cautiously optimistic because we ended the year higher than expected re: enrollment, and they also plan to start recruitment for next year soon, which may support efforts for the current year as well.
