Hello,
Please review and forward to your communities.Remember not everything below is parent facing.
December 17, 2021
Welcome to the last End of the Week for 2021! Winter Recess is December 24–31, and we will resume Friday publication in the new year. Wishing you and all NYC families a happy and healthy holiday season!
NYCDOE UPDATE: Family Letter December 16, 2021
NYCDOE UPDATE: A Message from Chancellor Meisha Porter and Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, Commissioner DOHMH
NYCDOE UPDATE: Vaccine Boosters for Ages 18 and Up
NYCDOE UPDATE: Middle and High School Admissions Updates
NYCDOE UPDATE: The Kindergarten Application is Open!
NYCDOE UPDATE: The Future of School Meals Survey
NYC UPDATE: The People’s Money
NYCDOE UPDATE: ASD Navigating Challenging Behavior at Home
NYCDOE UPDATE: “How to Manage Contentious Meetings” WEBINAR
NYCDOE UPDATE: “Job Retention and Self-Advocacy in the Workplace” WEBINAR
NYCDOE UPDATE: Mindfulness Classes on Parent University!
UPDATE: NYPL and InsideSchools: How to Apply to NYC High Schools
UPDATE: YAI Workshop: Self-Direction 101
UPDATE: NYC Fair Town Hall with OPWDD Acting Commissioner
EVENT: Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) Survey
RESOURCE: VACCINES FOR EVERYONE AGES 5 AND UP
RESOURCE: The Searchable Museum of African-American History and Culture
RESOURCE: Get FAFSA and Financial Aid Help from The New School
RESOURCE: Children’s Books About Mental Health
RESOURCE: 2022 NYC Public School Admissions Guide
NYCDOE UPDATE: Family Letter December 16, 2021
Dear Families,
It has come to our attention that there is a social media challenge proposed on TikTok and other social media platforms encouraging students to “call in bomb threats, school shooting threats, etc.” at schools across the United States. This social media challenge is not specific to only New York City, and many of the posts are general and not specific to one school.
The safety of everyone who enters our school buildings is always our highest priority and responsibility. Every threat to a school community is taken extremely seriously and we work closely with the NYPD to investigate threats made to any school community. If your school is named in a specific threat, please call 911 immediately and 1-888-NYC-SAFE. Additional supports will be deployed to the school as needed.
Safety and security are a community responsibility, and we are encouraging you to have conversations with your child about responsible social media use and the consequences of making threats. Schools and families can find information about digital citizenship on the DOE webpage: https://www.schools.nyc.gov/school-life/school-environment/digital-citizenship. Any social media posts or challenges involving threats or actions of violence against school communities will not be tolerated. Threats of violence have very real consequences regardless of the reason the threat was made, and we do not want our young people to jeopardize their bright futures over social media challenges such as these.
If you or your child witness any suspicious activities on social media, please call 911 or notify a trusted adult if at a school. We are committed to continuing to closely monitor this matter.
Thank you as always for everything you do to keep our school communities safe, and please do not hesitate to reach out to your principal.
In partnership,
Meisha Porter
New York City Schools Chancellor
Download the Family Letter, and see the Best Practices Regarding Reporting Threats for more info.
NYCDOE UPDATE: A Message from Chancellor Meisha Porter and Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, Commissioner DOHMH
As the holidays approach, we wish all our families a safe and healthy holiday season. We know that COVID-19 delta and omicron variants may be on your mind and we want to make it clear that the health and safety of our children, families, and school staff is our highest priority. Vaccination is our best tool in maintaining safer schools and defending against COVID-19. If you have a child who is at least 5 years old and not yet vaccinated, we strongly encourage you to get them vaccinated as soon as possible with the Pfizer vaccine (the only vaccine authorized for children age 5-17).
As a reminder, if your child is fully vaccinated, they do not need to quarantine and miss school if exposed to a person with COVID-19. As long as your child is fully vaccinated (meaning that it has been at least 2 weeks since the second COVID-19 vaccine dose) and does not have COVID-19 symptoms, they can attend in-person school after being exposed. Also, students ages 5 and older participating in high-risk extracurricular sports and other high-risk extracurricular activities (such as singing and band) must be vaccinated to participate in those activities during the 2021-22 school year.
In addition, we strongly recommend that all children receive the annual flu vaccine. The flu and COVID-19 are expected to circulate at the same time this season. Getting a flu vaccine reduces the chance of serious illness and hospitalization due to the flu and has been shown to save children’s lives. Getting both vaccines is important, because the flu vaccine does not protect against COVID-19 and the COVID-19 vaccine does not protect against flu. Your child can receive the flu vaccine at the same time as all other vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine. Check with your child’s health care provider to schedule a vaccination appointment or you can find vaccine sites for both flu and COVID-19 vaccines at nyc.gov/vaccinefinder.
Once your child is vaccinated against COVID-19, you can upload an image of your child’s vaccination card or NYC Excelsior Pass to the Department of Education’s vaccine portal at vaccine.schools.nyc using your child’s Department of Education account information. Submitting that information will let us know that your child does not have to quarantine if they become a close contact to a person with COVID-19.
You can find more information about the vaccine and other health and safety practices in our schools at schools.nyc.gov/2021health.
For more information on the COVID-19 vaccines, including vaccine sites, visit nyc.gov/covidvaccine.
We wish you and your family a very happy and safe holiday season.
NYCDOE UPDATE: Vaccine Boosters for Ages 18 and Up
COVID-19 vaccine booster shots are now available for people 18 and older who received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine at least six months ago, or the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at least two months ago. Book yours here: https://vax4nyc.nyc.gov.
These shots boost your immunity from an initial vaccination series. Your booster shot does not need to be the same vaccine brand as your first two doses; you can choose to receive any of the three authorized or approved vaccines. For more information on COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots, visit nyc.gov/covid19vaccine.
If you have not already been vaccinated against COVID-19, we urge you to do so as soon as possible. It is the best thing you can do to keep yourself, your loved ones and your community safe. In addition, COVID-19 vaccines are available for children ages 5 to 17. If you have additional questions about youth vaccinations, please review the following FAQ.
The safe and life saving vaccines are free and accessible. You may visit any of the available walk-up sites, book an appointment at https://vax4nyc.nyc.gov, or call 877-VAX4NYC (877-829-4692). To sign-up for the in-home vaccination services, please complete this form.
NYCDOE UPDATE: Middle and High School Admissions Updates
MIDDLE SCHOOL
- The middle school application will open the week of January 10, 2022, and the deadline to apply will be the week of February 28.
- This week, middle school welcome letters were released! This personalized letter includes information on how to access your MySchools.nyc account. When you’re logged in to your account, you can use MySchools to explore your child’s middle school program options and save favorite programs. When the application opens, you will also use MySchools to apply.
- All current fifth grade public school families will receive their child’s welcome letter in the mail. You can also get a copy from your current school counselor.
- Private and parochial school families can request your child’s welcome letter from a Family Welcome Center (schools.nyc.gov/FWC)
- The DOE will continue to pause screening (using students’ academic records in admissions) for students entering middle school in fall 2022. For middle school programs with more applicants than seats, offers will be made using admissions priorities and random selection.
- This year, arts-based programs will resume holding auditions.
- Learn more at schools.nyc.gov/Middle
HIGH SCHOOL
- The high school application will open the week of January 24, 2022, and close during the week of February 28.
- In response to feedback from community leaders, families, and schools, borough- and zone-based admissions priorities will remain in place this year. This means that some high school programs will continue to prioritize zoned applicants and/or applicants who live or currently attend middle school in a specific borough. District-based admissions priorities were eliminated last year and will continue to not be used in high school admissions.
-THE CENTER SCHOOL- 