Message from the Principal

We are so proud of 4th grader Annaliese Ginsburg for leading a Service Committee bakesale to benefit the International Red Cross. Annaliese was featured on NY1 on Monday as the New Yorker of the Week - you can check it out here. The Service Committee is one of three 4th/5th grade committees (Service, Equity, Sustainability) that work on student activism with Mr. Buckley. Their work exemplifies our core values of being Caring, Curious, and Courageous!

During the month of February we celebrated Black History Month with daily “On this day…” announcements highlighting important events in African American history. Students in all classes learned about different prominent African Americans, and created a large mosaic featuring them.

Also in February, we were delighted to welcome therapy dog Ollie into the building. All of the kindergarteners, and a few students from other grades met and pet Ollie, and asked his owner Wendy questions! Ollie will be a regular visitor in the school, and we look forward to more students getting spend time with him!

March is Women’s History Month - our Book of the Month is “Nothing Stopped Sophie” by Cheryl Bardoe, which is about French mathematician Sophie Germain. In the coming weeks, classes will be doing projects highlighting other historically important women. We look forward to sharing them with you!

We are looking forward to welcoming families into the building in person soon - in the meantime, check out some of the amazing work displayed in the hallways (and a picture our our sweet Ollie!)

Message From the Principal

It has been such a delight welcoming everyone back into the building and getting to meet our new families!

First, thank you for trusting us with the health and safety of you children! This week, the new quarantine protocol went into effect. As per the DOE: Beginning on Monday, September 27, we will no longer close an entire classroom when there is a positive case. Vaccinated and unvaccinated students who are wearing face coverings and have maintained at least three feet of distance from a student who tests positive will not be considered close contacts and will not have to quarantine.  Here is a helpful Q and A on the new policy.

The DOE also changed the COVID-19 testing policy from biweekly testing of 10% of the testable students to weekly testing of 10% of the testable students (grades 1-5). We have had 2 testing sessions so far. Random testing is a key measure for reducing community-wide spread of COVID-19. Please sign and return the consent form or submit consent through your NYSCA account if you have not already done so. To date, about 50% of our testable students have consent on file. If your child gets a COVID-19 test in school, the results will be emailed to you from Bioreference Labs. 

*If a child is displaying signs of distress about getting tested, they will be excused, and the family will be notified.

The DOE staff vaccination will go into effect on Monday, October 4. We will have minimal disruption to our staffing at PS154.

Our teachers have set up Google Classrooms for students to use in the event of COVID-related remote learning. It is important that students in grades K-4  join with their nycstudents.net accounts. If you need help setting up your nycstudents accounts, please reach out to Debby or Leila. We will be holding Zoom office hours at 9:30 on Monday, October 4th (link will be sent separately) to help families with account set-up.

Thank you to all our families for your continued support and partnership!

Message from the Principal

Dear New and Returning PS 154 Families,

Welcome to the 2021-22 school year at PS 154! The beginning of the school year  has always been my favorite time of year - and once again I am full of anticipation and hope for the upcoming year. As interim acting principal of PS154, my hope is that the valuable lessons we learned last year about making and maintaining connections will serve as a foundation as we build an even stronger, more inclusive community. Mr. Buckley and I share in our amazing staff’s excitement to see our wonderful children learn, grow, and be joyous every day.

Next year, we are launching a music and media/moving image program with working artists and PS154 substitute teachers Julian Litwack and Xavier Cardriche. Mr. Litwack will teach music to Kindergarten-2nd grade students, and Mr. Cardriche will teach media and moving image to 3rd-5th grade students. As in past years, the PTA will subsidize enrichment programming, and will be bringing back one enrichment per grade. New this year, the PTA will be subsidizing a 10-week theater residency program for all grade levels in the fall. As we help our students deepen their understanding of citizenship in the local and global community, I’m also happy to share that we are expanding our service learning initiative. Each grade is beginning a service partnership with an organization. You will be hearing more about this as the school year takes off.

There is so much learning to be done this year, and it is an honor to lead the school as we return to the building, make new connections, and re-engage with the community. Our instructional focus this year will be to ensure that every student has access to successful learning experiences, and we will begin by reflecting on what makes a successful learning experience. I would love to hear your thoughts on this! 

Our hardworking custodial crew has been in the building all summer getting the school cleaned, shined, and ready for September, when our teachers will come in and prepare their classrooms for their students. Our goal is to make each classroom, and the building as whole, a safe and inviting space in which each student feels valued and included - I can’t wait for your students to see their classrooms on the first day and to be a part of our caring, curious, and courageous community! While there are still some unknowns about procedures for next year, what I do know is that your children’s health and safety is our top priority. Our team of teachers, support staff, custodians, and administration will continue to work hard to ensure that Department of Education safety measures are in place, adhered to, and maintained throughout the school year. 

We are all looking forward to a wonderful year and we can’t wait to welcome you back on September 13!