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Principal's Message

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Dear Families,

Welcome to a new school year at P.S. 29! It has been an absolute joy to see all of your children’s bright faces and hear their stories about summer as we welcomed our new students and reunited with others. As an educator and parent of two children, both graduates of P.S 29, I share your hopes and excitement as we look ahead to a new chapter at P.S. 29. Summer provided us with precious time to reflect and renew our goals for the upcoming year.  We have been working hard to ensure that our vision, goals, and priorities are aligned across our grades and teams. 

Goals and Priorities

Ensuring that each and every student, family, and staff member feels welcomed and supported at 29 is at the core of every program and initiative. Here’s an overview of our goals and priorities for 22-23:

  • We pledge to continue our commitment to anti-bias, anti-racist (ABAR) practices within our school community. 

  • We continue to implement several Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programs including 4Rs, Social Thinking, and RULER, because we know that emotional health is necessary for academic success. Our SEL teaching aligns well with the core values of our P.S. 29 Code for Living: empathy, responsibility, integrity, and respect. 

  • We will continue to work with Teachers College Reading Writing Project (TCRWP) this school year, and will engage our staff developers and colleagues at TCRWP as thought partners and critical friends. 

  • Our ICT (Integrated Co-Teaching) teachers will once again work with G&R Inclusive Group, an organization that has supported our neurodiverse learning community.

  • We fully understand the importance of the science of reading, and are committed to ensuring that our teachers have the training necessary to support developing readers. To that end, we are delighted to welcome back Fundations staff developers, with whom we will work to review and refresh our skills with implementing our phonics-based literacy program in our lower grades.  

  • In math, we continue to learn and grow from our math coach, Kim Van Duzer’s leadership. This year, our 1st grade team will pilot a new release of our math curriculum, Eureka Math Squared, which includes many engaging and streamlined elements that we believe will really enhance students’ experience. We’ll also reinvigorate our school-wide focus on building math fact fluency across grades, with a focus on the progression of fluency skills that develop over time, and with workshops for families on how to best support fact fluency development at home. 

  • Enrichment opportunities abound at PS 29! We will build on last year’s revival of our school newspaper, drama production, and service learning projects, as well as offer increased access to STEM and music opportunities, collaborations with outside organizations for yoga, dance, drama, chess and more!

New Staff Members/New Roles

Please join me in welcoming our newest members of staff:

  • Shaina Hohnstine is our new speech-language pathologist who will join Miriam Krent and other service providers at P.S. 29. 

  • Miwa Yoshikami will be working with us two days per week to round out the role of school counselor, as Cara Turnbull returns to us for three days per week with a renewed focus on restorative practices. 

  • Finally, Molly Dubow, who has taught Kindergarten through 3rd grades for many years at PS 29, will be joining Tina Reres as a science teacher, allowing us to do even deeper science work with our students across the grades.

COVID Protocols for 22-23

We will continue to adhere to COVID health and safety protocols.  Please reach out to Parent Coordinator Olivia Poor with any questions about the DOE COVID policies for the new school year.

Gratitude and Acknowledgements

I am grateful for our extraordinary team at 29. 

  • Thanks to Tina Reres and a small community of family gardeners for working tirelessly all summer long to ensure that our garden continues to be vibrant and beautiful.

  • Olivia Poor has been an expert communicator throughout the summer, answering emails and sharing information with our community with utmost clarity and coherence. We are ever-grateful for Olivia’s commitment. 

  • Carlos Hosking, our custodial engineer, and his crew have done a tremendous job with painting, moving furniture, cleaning and waxing floors, ensuring that ventilation is up and running, and so much more.  

  • I am so grateful to our Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) who have been present throughout the summer to act as visionaries for this upcoming school year. Susannah Sperry, our media literacy teacher and technology coordinator, continues to lead us with her sharp understanding of the world of technology and has made our lives infinitely easier and smoother. I also celebrate and acknowledge Kim Van Duzer, our math coach, whose organizational mind and attention to detail is reflected in everything that she sets out to do as a coach, communicator, and curriculum developer. 

  • Finally, I am infinitely grateful to Halee Hochman and Dawn Pender, our two assistant principals. They are detail-oriented, hands-on, selfless, indispensable, and beyond dedicated. I cannot ask for a more supportive and loyal leadership team than all of these individuals.

Finally, thank you for your partnership and belief in P.S. 29. 

Here’s to a healthy and joyful 2022-2023 school year,

Rebecca

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