Good Morning MS 226 Families! If you are in need of an Ipad or electronic device to engage in remote learning, please see the following:

https://coronavirus.schools.nyc/RemoteLearningDevices

Call: 718-935-5100 for the DOE Help Desk

Check out our student page for information about our MS 226 Mascot Contest!!!

A message from our Principal

I am so thankful to be the newest member of the Middle School 226 community!

I have worked in District 27 for the past fourteen years as an educator, literacy coach, staff developer, and assistant principal. Throughout these years, my focus has been on working with all members of the school community to create the best possible learning environment for ALL students, focusing on helping them to develop the 21^st century skills they will need to be successful throughout their lives. I am looking forward to working with such an incredible and dedicated team, as well as our amazing students and parents, to continue this work.

As I write this, I recognize that we are certainly in new territory as we implement remote instruction. Please know that all staff members are here to support you! You can continue to reach out to your child’s teacher through PupilPath. If you are unable to access PupilPath or have any question about remote learning, please send us an email through our new help desk. The email address is MS226HelpDesk@virgilgrissom.com. We will make sure that your question or concern reaches the right person.

Please take care and stay safe.

Michael Potwardski

Interim Acting Principal

Important Message about Remote Learning at MS 226

Dear Students and Families,

We will be transitioning to remote instruction during the time that school buildings are closed. It is important to note that remote instruction is still instruction. Teachers will be planning lessons and delivering instruction via Google Classroom. Students will be expected to log into Google Classroom for each of their classes, following their daily schedule. The times for each period are below.

For the remainder of the day, students will work to complete their class assignments, as well as working on other activities such as independent reading and making use of the various websites and digital resources to which they have access (i.e., IXL, Lexia, CommonLit, myOn Reader, etc.).

Google Classroom is the platform that we will be using to deliver instruction. Directions for accessing Google Classroom are on the back of this letter. We want to clarify the following expectations for all students:

1) At 9:00 am, you will log into Google Classroom and join the class that you normally have first period on that particular day (i.e., If it is Monday at 9:00 am and you normally have ELA first period on Monday, log in to ELA. If it is Tuesday at 9:00 am and you normally have Music first period on Tuesday, log into your Music class).

2) Copies of the daily program for each class have been uploaded to the Virgil Grissom webpage. https://www.virgilgrissom.com/

3) Attendance will be taken by the teacher. You are expected to attend each of your classes every day. You are also expected to stay in the class for the entire 25 minutes.

4) Google Classroom is interactive, so you will be able to post and respond to questions, as well as participate in other ways.

5) All work assigned by the teacher must be completed and submitted. This work will be graded and included in your grade for this marking period.

6) Google Classroom can be accessed from a laptop, desktop, iPad, or smartphone. On Wednesday (3/18) and Thursday (3/19), we reached out to families via School Messenger and PupilPath inviting families to pick up an iPad from the school if they did not have access to a device. If you did not get this message or were not able to come in to pick up a device, there is a link on the school website, https://www.virgilgrissom.com/, for you to complete a survey. The DOE will be reaching out to families in the coming days and weeks to provide access to devices.

7) All of the information contained in this letter will also be available on the school website.

8) Also included with this letter are directions for creating a NY Schools account (only if you have not already created an account) and a copy of your child’s last report card, which includes their OSIS (school ID) number.

9) A Special Education Remote Plan is being created for each student with an IEP.

We understand that these are difficult times, but it is important that we come together to ensure that all students continue to feel the full support of the school community. We will be sending out frequent updates via School Messenger and PupilPath. If you have not already created a PupilPath account, please do so. We mailed out invitations and codes again to all families who have not yet registered.

Please continue to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Middle School 226 Administration

Michael Potwardski · Dr. Jennifer Shirley Brown · Michele Cohen · Matthew Hamilton

Lucia Lengua · Lawrence Melamed