Back-to-school message from the PTA co-presidents
Dear BHSEC Manhattan Families,
Tomorrow it begins! As you and your student get ready for the first day of school, we wanted to say a quick welcome back to our veteran families and a warm welcome to our new families. New families–you will be hearing separately from members of our PTA Executive Board to give you additional information and help with any questions you have as you transition to our wonderful school.
For all of our roughly 600 families in our Bard Manhattan community:
1) Please mark your calendars for Thursday, September 14, 6:00pm, for our first PTA meeting of the year, which will include our Back to School Potluck supper–a great way to meet our new families as well as reconnect with familiar faces. More details on that to follow.
2) As always, our beautiful PTA website has a wealth of information for our families, including a link to the school academic calendar (in the upper right corner) which will allow you to see absolutely everything that is scheduled to go on at the school, month by month, for the entire school year (this is updated regularly). There are also great pictures, student videos, and other information that gives you a greater sense of the vibrant culture and purposeful learning that goes on at our early college high school. Our website is www.bhsec1pta.org.
3) Our parents are an integral part of our school community, and the success of our students depends greatly on engaged families. There are so many ways to help–both large and small–all impactful. For those interested in taking on a bigger role at the school, please know that we have several PTA executive board positions open, as well as two positions on our School Leadership Team available for 9th grade parents (parent representative and alternate). We will discuss these positions in greater detail at the first PTA meeting on September 14, but if you know you are interested now, feel free to contact the PTA at contact@bhsec1pta.org and introduce yourself. The elections will be held at our October PTA meeting on Thursday, October 26 at 6:30pm.
4) Our parent night (referred to as Curriculum Night in some schools), will be Thursday, September 28th at 5:00pm. On this evening, parents have the opportunity to meet their student’s teachers and learn more about the curriculum and expectations for each class on their schedule.
All students will begin the school year tomorrow in Writing and Thinking Workshop at 9:00am. For new families, Writing and Thinking is a hallmark of the Bard program (and an abbreviated version of the program at Bard College), and a wonderful way for students to get back into the swing of things. More descriptions on the Writing and Thinking process are on our website, told in the voices of our students of year’s past (go to Student Stories).
Below is the excerpt from Dr. Lerner’s August 28th email to families as a reminder of what to expect the first few days of school:
“The first day for BHSEC students will be Thursday, September 7, when we begin the year with our annual Writing and Thinking Workshop. Students should begin arriving at 8:30 AM. Your room assignments will be posted in the auditorium, and we will have plenty of help on hand to get students to the right place before workshops begin at 9:00 AM. Please don’t be late for the beginning of your workshop! For the duration of Writing and Thinking Workshop, students will need a notebook and pens, but no other supplies are necessary. This year’s Writing and Thinking Workshop is themed “Product and Process.” Workshop will run for three days through Monday, September 11. Our regular class schedule will begin on Tuesday, September 12 with two days of Writing and Thinking in classes. Fall schedules will be distributed on the last day of Writing and Thinking Workshop.”
We look forward to seeing everyone at our Back to School Potluck on Thursday, September 14 at 6:00pm. If you have any questions, you can always reach us at contact@bhsec1.pta.org or through our incredible Parent Coordinator, Carol Turitz.
Warm regards,
Natalie Green Giles and Matt Widman, Co-presidents, BHSEC Manhattan PTA
