March 4, 2025

Dear Families,                     

This is a quick reminder that this Thursday, March 6, school ends at 11:50.  We are getting out early because of family conferences.  Children will have school lunch before dismissal.

Apply for Summer Rising

Starting today, you can apply for your child to attend Summer Rising.  Students who are in grades K-8 this year can attend this free citywide program.

Summer Rising has academics in the morning and camp-style activities in the afternoon.  The academics begin at 8:00 a.m.  Arts, sports, and play are scheduled from noon until 6:00. 

For the past several years, our Summer Rising has been affiliated with PS 72, located on East 104 Street at Lexington Avenue.  Most CPE1 students who attend Summer Rising go to PS 72.  You also can list a different school (such as one closer to your job) as your top choice.

To apply for Summer Rising, go to www.myschools.nyc.   (This is the same website where families apply for pre-K, kindergarten, and middle school.)

Once you log into the site, PS 72 will come up as your first option.  You can apply there twice: once for the Children’s Aid Society afternoon program, and once for SACN-Harbor’s.  You can search for other Summer Rising locations after that.

Summer Rising has limited seats, so you must apply by the deadline, March 28.  (You can decline your seat in late spring if you decide not to use it.)

Shelter-In Monday

For thirty minutes on Monday afternoon, we had a shelter-in for.  During a shelter-in, no one can enter or exit the building, but activities in classrooms go on as usual.

We sheltered in after we were alerted about possible gunfire a few blocks north of our school.  Police responded immediately.  We locked ourselves inside the building until NYPD gave the all-clear.

Whenever we have a shelter-in, we send short messages via remind.com.  If a shelter-in happens around the time of dismissal, please do not wait in the courtyard.  We shelter in because there might be danger outside.  You, too, should be inside.  Please wait somewhere nearby, such as the Dunkin’ Donuts or supermarket across Madison Avenue.

June 24 – Final Day of School

Our final day with students this year will be Monday, June 23.  That is the day of the family outing in Central Park.

We have fewer days with students in June after the Central offices approved our request to change our calendar.  We proposed to use June 24, June 25, and June 26 to organize and to plan reading curriculum for the year ahead. Teachers will have many more hours to plan together in detail.

Many school scheduled nonattendance days added for the middle of the year.  We put ours at the end in part because we often have lower attendance for the final few days and because it ensures we focus our planning on the year ahead.

Before we applied for this schedule change, families had vote at an official parent association meeting.  That happened back in June 2024, when 90% of those who voted supported this calendar change.

Creating rich reading curriculum for a whole year is a lot of work.  It’s also a joyous undertaking.  This year, we challenged readers with complicated, interesting text.  June planning will help us go further in 2025-2026.