School Leadership Team (SLT)
Table of Contents
School Leadership Team Members 2016 - 2017
SLT Role
SLT Membership
SLT Meetings and Office Hours
Letter From the Chairperson
SLT Position on State Testing
SLT Field Testing Information for 5th Grade Parents and Guardians
SLT By-laws
School Leadership Team Members 2016 - 2017
| Administrative Members | |
| A. Hope | I.A. Principal |
| Keisha Banyan-Shepherd | 3rd Grade Teacher |
| Nicola Tomlin | Teacher |
| Angela Guiffreda | Science Teacher,Parent, **SLT Chairperson |
| Audrey Neederman | D37, School Aide |
| Parent Members | |
| Joshua Bloodworth | Parent, **PTA President |
| Uran Delly | Parent |
| Lurie Daniel Favors | Parent |
| Leslie Jirsa | Parent |
| Tauheedah Yasin | Parent |
SLT Role
The SLT is primarily responsible for developing the school’s Comprehensive Education Plan (CEP) and making decisions about the budget that allow the CEP to be implemented.
Meetings are held once a month and minutes are available in the Parent Resource Room. Parents may also communicate with the SLT via their mailbox in the main office. Any parent is free to attend and participate in meetings.
SLT Membership
The SLT has ten members. Five are members of staff and five are parents.
The principal, the PTA President and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) representative (or their designees) are automatically on the team; other members are elected by their constituencies at special meetings are held for that purpose.
Elections for parent members of the SLT typically occur in May.
SLT Meetings and Office Hours
All SLT meetings are open to anyone in the PS11 community. Your participation is welcomed and encouraged. Meetings are held regularly in the school library at 5:30 p.m.
SLT office hours are traditionally held monthly in Mr. Rand's room from 8:20 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
Letter From the Chairperson
| September 2016 |
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Dear PS 11 Families, On behalf of the School Leadership Team, welcome to the 2016-2017 school year! School Leadership Teams (SLTs) are school-based organizations composed of an equal number of parents and staff. We meet once a month, and determine the structure for school-based planning and shared decision-making. We have three mandatory members: the school principal, the PA president (or designated co-president) and the UFT chapter leader. The remaining members are made up of an equal number of parents and staff. The core responsibility of the SLT is to develop the school’s Comprehensive Educational Plan (CEP) that is aligned with the school-based budget and to serve as an advisory to the principal. SLTs are strongly encouraged to solicit input from various school community constituencies in order to ensure that all voices are heard regarding the needs of students. Functioning in a collaborative manner, we also help to evaluate the effectiveness of the school’s educational programs and their impact on student achievement. If you have a question regarding PS 11’s SLT and/or something you would like the SLT to consider, please feel free to communicate with any of the members listed below. The date of our first SLT meeting will be Monday, September 19. We meet in the school library at 5:30. Childcare is not provided like our PTA meetings, but children are welcome to do homework and/or quiet reading. Future dates will be decided on at this meeting and will be posted on our monthly calendar and the PS 11 website. Anyone can attend an SLT meeting. If you would like to join the SLT, elections will be held Spring 2017. I look forward to another great year, serving our Blue Ribbon School, as Chairperson. |
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Respectfully, |
SLT Position on State Testing
The SLT at PS11 had been engaged in discussion regarding issues surrounding the New York State Testing program. Our main concerns are the following:
- Three days of Math and three days of ELA testing are too many for students in grades 3 to 5.
- Grade-promotion based on a single Test score is educationally unsound and places too much pressure on young children, thereby hindering their ability to learn.
- The increasing use of test results to evaluate teacher performance, school performance and student progress is not a fair or accurate method of assessment of either performance or progress.
- The over-reliance on Math and ELA test results minimizes and discounts the impact that arts, music and other cluster programs have on student learning.
- Both the 2012 Math and ELA exams contained errors.
- The 2012 Math and ELA exams should be released to the public in a timely manner.
- Field test questions were embedded in the regular Math and ELA exams. Why then are schools mandated to administer a separate Field Test during the week of June 5-8?
- The increased emphasis on testing disempowers Principals, Teachers, Students and Parents from participating and making decisions critical to student education.
The PS11 SLT offers parents, teachers and staff the following summary of organizations that are actively involved with organizing around testing issues - School Reform Organizations.
The SLT has also written to various state and city officials to voice concern over the issues raised above. Here is a link to the letter sent to Dr. John B. King, State Education Commissioner.
The SLT urges all concerned members of the community to write to their elected officials if they share similar concerns. Letter templates, along with e-mail addresses are available here -
SLT Field Testing Information for 5th Grade Parents and Guardians
During the beginning of June 2015, the NY State Education Department (SED) will require schools in New York City to administer “field tests” for Pearson, the company that creates the standardized tests. PS11 is one of those schools, and “field tests” in ELA (English Language Arts) - Writing will be administered to all 5th graders at some time during June 1 - June 10.
Unlike the regular state tests, “field tests” are not used to assess students’ skills or to evaluate the proficiency of teachers or schools. Their sole purpose is to help Pearson determine the viability of their test questions.
The PS11 School Leadership Team (SLT) has discussed this matter at length. Parents have voiced concern that their children already take enough standardized tests and wonder why additional testing is necessary, particularly since there are also many “field test” questions embedded in the regular state tests. They feel that the SED’s multimillion-dollar contract with Pearson effectively turns public schoolchildren into uncompensated market research subjects, while depriving them of scarce time for rich, genuine instruction.
Neither the SED nor the NYC Department of Education asks parents for their consent to have their child participate in the “field tests”. Instead, schools are simply mandated to administer it.
The SLT wishes to inform parents that students who decline to take the “field test” will not be penalized, nor will their teacher or the school.
Unlike the regular state tests, which require 95% school-wide compliance according to the SED, there is no minimum participation threshold for the “field test.”
If you wish to decline the “field test” for your child please e-mail Ms. Hope.
SLT By-laws
Please click on the link to download a copy of the SLT by-laws.