The Renaissance Charter School Page 2 of 2

Dear Renaissance Families,

Welcome back to a new school year! We look forward to seeing you and your child (children) in September.

We have had a very busy summer program that served many students both from our school and from other neighborhood schools: district, charter and private. We worked with a very special group Beyond Organic Design to offer an agriculture and sustainability program. Our after-school partner, 82nd Street Academics, also had a terrific STEAM program for middle school students. These, in addition, to academic programs and physical education, gave us a well-rounded and well-attended summer school.

This year we are pleased to welcome three new faculty members to our school: Joanne Ristau who will be teaching middle and high school science, Lisa Marchello, our new 4th grade teacher and James Drumgoole, who will be supporting literacy and our English Language Learners’ program. We are also pleased to tell you that Michelle Cardona is now in the main office overseeing pupil accounting and student records. She takes over this position after the retirement of Barbara DeMarco. I know you join me in thanking Barbara for her years of service and wishing her a wonderful retirement.

I am excited for all that is happening in our school. We are continuing with many of the wonderful partnerships we have worked with so successfully through the years. Be sure to read all about them in our monthly newsletters. Additionally, Renaissance was awarded a second best practice dissemination grant from the New York State Education Department to work with a district school in Far Rockaway, Scholar’s Academy. We will be sharing our innovative College Bound program as well as using the resources from the grant to continue to grow, improve and innovate the programs at both our schools. At Renaissance, we are committed to preparing all our students to be college-ready, gain acceptance into a great college and graduate from that program. We believe that by applying the three tiers of learning our school emphasizes – 1) a high-quality, standards-based curriculum, 2) project-based learning and 3) experiential learning and community service, we do just that. But, there is always more work to be done. The world is changing so rapidly around us. We are now an information and digital society and need to work to ensure we prepare our students to be leaders in this new environment. Equally as important, is the focus we have been placing on developing our students as global citizens. We look forward to talking to about these exciting initiatives at Curriculum Night and other workshops and parent meetings throughout the year.

Renaissance is honored to again be included in Clara Hemphill’s newest edition of The Best Public Elementary Schools in New York City. We are also delighted to have been named a Changemaker School by the Ashoka Network. Ashoka “invests in the people and patterns of collaborative entrepreneurship that are necessary in an ‘everyone is a changemaker’ world. Their current investments seek to shape a world where: leading social entrepreneurs access the resources they need to thrive and spread their systems-changing innovations, every child grows up practicing empathy, every young person is practicing the skills of empathy, new leadership, teamwork and changemaking and society organizes as a fluid, open team-of-teams”. To learn more about the Ashoka Network, visit their website at www.ashoka.org. And, our popularity continues to grow with a wait list of over 3,500 families hoping to send their child to their school. Parents’ belief in Renaissance and the educational experience we work to deliver is ultimately the best praise ever.

There are so many great things happening at our school this year. Let me take this opportunity to again thank you for entrusting your child’s education to us. This is one of the most important decisions a parent can make and we are so pleased you have decided to have your child attend Renaissance.

This year I will be having two Coffee and Tea with the Principal events in the fall and spring. I know everyone is very busy, but I hope you can take the time to come out and join me. I want to hear what you are thinking, answer your questions and get to know each of our families better. Be on the look-out for an invitation.

All the best,

Stacey

Stacey