New Start Time for School???

Before the school year ended, the staff and faculty discussed having school start at 8:30 am rather than at 8:00 am for a variety of reasons, which include:

• research shows that teenagers need more sleep and perform better and learn more when school begins later in the day;
• a later start would give students time to meet with teachers in the mornings before the start of school for tutoring, homework help, etc.;
• a later start may help to reduce student lateness to school especially for those who travel long distances to school; and
• teachers can conduct credit retrieval courses, Regents review, and clubs both before and after school.

We would love for you to share your thoughts on how changing the start time of the school day will impact student learning and achievement. As a student, would you take advantage of early morning tutoring, homework help, Regents review, clubs, and/or credit retrieval. Please post your responses! Thanks for sharing!

New Teachers Hired

I am very excited to tell you all about the wonderful new teachers who have become part of the College of Staten Island High School for International Studies community. We are excited to welcome all of our our new teachers and staff. Teaching English are Heather Prevosti and Jennifer Lima; teaching Social Studies, Meghan Emerson; teaching Earth Science, Kim Lombardi; teaching Physical Education, Jonathan Merlis; teaching technology, Tisha Burgos; teaching Spanish, Elissa Garcia; and teaching Special Education is Tami Biancoviso. We would also like to welcome Maria Gagliardo, our new school secretary. You can look for their bios on our website. I hope you will all join me in welcoming them to our school and in helping them learn about our community.

Along with our current staff, they have been working hard this summer attending professional development workshops including the International Studies Schools Network Summer Institute in Washington, DC, a science institute at Rockefeller University, and technology institutes with presenters such as Alan November, as well as travelling and taking classes to further their education.

As you all think about the coming school year, I would love to hear about the types of clubs and extracurricular activities you are interested in as well as anything you feel passionate about learning. Likewise, if you have ideas for trips and service learning opportunties, that would be wonderful. Looking forward to hearing from you!

CSI High School Girls Softball

Check out our girls softball team on You Tube. Go to www.youtube.com and search for CSI High School Softball. The video highlights our team's accomplishments and determination as well as their coach's dedication and pride in the girls. We look forward to their continued greatness as a varsity team.

Dear CSI Family:

Welcome to Inside CSI, our school community blog. I am excited to offer this new way of engaging in conversation to parents, teachers, students and other members of the College of Staten Island High School of International Studies family. I hope that we will use this blog to share school news, student and teacher accomplishments, and important information that we want to share with you.

Over the summer CSI staff has been hard at work creating opportunities for you for next year. First, we have been collaborating with St. Johns University so that students in fourth year Spanish will have opportunities to earn dual credit (college and high school credit) this year. Students in this program will be able to earn up to six college credits during the upcoming school year. Secondly, we are working to set up a two way Spanish language exchange program with a school in Ecuador.

Although our February trip to Europe is booked, we do have exciting possibilities for a two way exchange with a school in France. It is expected that our students will travel to France and participate in a home stay during February and that students from France will come to our school next September.

In the fall, our junior students have the option of enrolling in a Journalism class so that they can continue to produce The International Insider and learn more about investigative reporting, editing, and layout. Freshman and sophomore students will continue to be part of the newspaper through an after school club.

Finally, we are working on a grant with College of Staten Island so that our students will get tuition waivers to take courses at the college. Additionally, we will continue to offer College Now to students who meet the requirements. We are also partnering with the college to offer our students a rich menu of after school activities.

I am excited to welcome back from China, Chris Livacarri and our students Josephine and Anam. Both Josephine and Anam were fortunate to be awarded scholarships through our partnership with the Asia Society's International Studies Schools Network. I am sure they will be sharing information about their trip with our community once school begins.

This year our school community will work together to establish our school's core values. To accomplish this we will be working with the Institute for Global Ethics. In order for this to be successful we need all constituencies to participate in this program. In conjunction with the Institute, I will be working with teachers and other staff members. Teachers will then be working with their advisories. We will then host a potluck dinner for parents, students and teachers so that parents can also contribute to helping us establish our core values and continue to build our community around them. I look forward to your participation in this and many other opportunities this year.