At the end of a normal instructional day, co-located schools convened for their first Meet & Greet in the media center. Over dinner, the staff of Thirteenth Avenue School and North Star Charter School congregated as neighbors in their shared facility. Lively and spirited conversations covered broad landscapes of education reforms in 21st century America, serving up heaping mounds of philosophy, pedagogy, and best practices. This first co-location meet-up proved to be successful with requests by all for future collaborative engagements.
At 5 p.m., parents, students and staff were directed to our auditorium. Principal Mackey introduced herself, as well as, her administrative and instructional team, to parent and student applause. After the official greeting, Open House, our third event of the day, was underway.
In classrooms, parents met with teachers for classroom presentations which entailed snap-shot profiles of each child; a discussion on academic expectations, instructional rigor, student deportment, lines of communication and parental engagement; as the third leg of the stool to achieve desired outcomes.
Parents were also afforded opportunities to complete lunch applications online. For more information and details about lunch applications you are asked to contact Marian Hardy, Parent Liaison in person or at M2Hardy@NPS.K12.NJ.US .
By 7:00 p.m., the duration of the normal instructional day, the co-located Meet & Greet dinner, administrative introductions and Open House, had consumed more than 12 hours. For many, it rendered September 20, 2011 into a matter of seconds as the day’s end was rewarded by invaluable collegiality, parental partnering and inspired exhaustion.
The entire professional team at Thirteenth Avenue School is to be commended for their demonstrable commitment of service and renewed dedication to making 13th Avenue School the PRIDE of Newark.
