The Unity Scoop – June 16

Dear Families of Unity,

Let me begin this edition of The Unity Scoop with a hearty note of admiration and gratitude to all of the fathers in our community.  Happy Father’s Day to you!

I hope this past week treated you and your loved ones well.  As a community, we experienced a few noteworthy milestones, including the last day of regular classes, a Unity Field Day at our middle school, the completion of Regents exams at Unity High, a student-athletics awards banquet, a dance performance, and a spring arts exhibition.  Kudos to all who contributed to these milestones and their success!

The milestones continue this week in rapid fashion.  While we only have three days of school due to honoring Eid al-Adha on Monday and Juneteenth on Wednesday, our middle school students, after much preparation and anticipation, will engage in their Roundtable presentations on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  In addition, our high school students will conclude Regents testing with five different exams administered over the course of the short week.  See the June calendar below for details.  We are excited to experience these new milestones together as a community this week!

In this edition of The Scoop, we share highlights from Thursday’s art exhibition.  In addition, we share some fun photos on our end-of-year trips.  Enjoy the rest of the long weekend!

In unity,

Josh

Josh Beauregard

Head of School / Co-founder

Updates as of June 16, 2024:

New – Unity’s Young Artists Exhibit their Works at a Local Gallery!: This past Thursday, students, staff, family members, and community members participated in our high school’s Spring Arts Festival at the Art Cave Gallery on Broadway.  Congrats to Ms. Glickman, Ms. Gjakova, and their students for bringing this glorious event to our community!  And thank you to our families who came out to support!

Updated – June 2024 School-wide Calendar: For your family’s convenience, here is a complete school-wide calendar of events for the month of June – print it out and throw it on the refrigerator door!  It is possible that events could change and new events could be added.  An up-to-date events calendar can always be accessed on our website.

Updated – Middle School Families – RSVP for Your Child’s Roundtable Presentation Now!:  We are excited for our students’ Roundtable presentations, which will take place over three days: June 18th, 20th, and 21st.  An RSVP form for your child’s Roundtable presentation was disseminated last week.  RSVP at your earliest convenience if you haven’t already done so!

New – Your Feedback Empowers Us – Please Take a Moment to Share Your Experiences With Us By Completing our Spring Family Perception Survey: Our purpose as a school is to best serve you and your child’s educational aspirations.  And we are best positioned to fulfill this purpose when we have honest and direct feedback from you.  With this interest, we request your feedback on how we are doing as we conclude the school year by completing this brief survey.  The survey includes questions about family communication, engagement, fit, support, school climate, and safety, among other things.  Your answers are anonymous; we will use your collective feedback over the coming months to drive our decision-making and best position us to best serve you.  As a small gesture of appreciation for your time, the first 300 families to complete the survey by June 24th will be eligible for a raffle of a $50 gift card to Amazon.  We thank you in advance for your invaluable feedback!

New – With June Comes the Fun of End-of-Year Trips with Classmates!: With this being the final month of the school year, grade levels have begun indulging in a number of festive adventures to celebrate the end of the year and have fun together! Below are some action photos of some recent trips as well as some fliers of trips that are upcoming!

Recap  – Stellar Attendance in May – 95% and Above!: The following lengthy list of students demonstrated a strong and consistent dedication to their education by showing stellar attendance in May.  Kudos to these students – we love seeing you each and every day!  And, of course, we look forward to celebrating additional students at the end of this month!

Recap – Unity Athletics – The Spring Season is Upon Us!: There have been a number of recent highlights worth sharing with Unity’s athletic teams this spring season.  Here are a few!

Unity Middle’s Girls Track Team qualified for the Finals in three separate leagues this past week – NYRR (New York Road Runners), MSAL (Middle School Athletic Association), and CSAA (Charter School Athletic Association).  Be proud, Panthers!

Congratulations to our student-athletes at Unity High who enjoyed an end-of-year Athletic Awards banquet last night.  Go Panthers!

Unity Middle Student-Athlete, Sariah Wilson, being interviewed by the MSAL league commissioner during yesterday’s meeting.  Click on the image to hear the interview.  Unity’s 4×4 girls’ team won their race!

New – 2024-25 School Calendar of Key Events and Vacations for Families: Calendars for the 2024-25 school year are now ready to share.  Note that we have two versions this year – one version for our middle school (grades 6-8) and another version for our high school (grades 9-12).

• Grades 6-8 School Calendar of Key Events and Vacations for Families
• Grades 6-8 School Calendar of Key Events and Vacations for Families

Recap – College Acceptance List for Unity’s Class of 2024!: We are excited to share with our community the full list of colleges to which members of Unity’s Class of 2024 have earned admission.  Congrats to the entire class and their families as they now decide which college they will attend this fall!  Enjoy the photo below of members of Unity’s Class of 2024 visiting SUNY Stony Brook on Thursday and being greeted by members of Unity’s Class of 2023 who now attend Stony Brook. Kudos to our alumni in supporting our seniors as they weigh their options!

Recap – Unity Calendar for the 2023-24 School Year: The table below reflects our key events and vacations calendar for the 2023-24 school year.  In addition, here is the updated PDF version of the table for your convenience.

Relevant Information from Past Editions of The Scoop:

Free Resources for Unity Families: Unity’s social work team is always looking for resources that may be helpful and of interest to our families.  A host of resources are provided below.  Reach out to Ms. Del Purgatorio, Unity’s Director of Social Work, with questions.

• Introducing 988, The New Mental Health Hotline: The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which launched last week, is a new way for anyone experiencing a mental health crisis to quickly reach out for help. Anyone in the US can now call or text 9-8-8 to be connected to a trained mental health professional at one of more than 200 local crisis call centers around the country. Learn more here.
• INCLUDEnyc Presents: How to Talk to Your Children about Sexuality: This webinar will help parents and guardians of children with disabilities become more comfortable discussing sexuality and relationships, and cover some of the most effective ways to talk about this sensitive topic. Learn more and register here.
• Free Summer Meals for Students – begins Tuesday, June 28th: NYC’s Summer Meals program offers free breakfast and lunch throughout NYC for anyone age 18 and under. No registration, documentation, or ID is required.  Visit here for details on time, locations, menus and other helpful information.
• Free Book Giveaway for Kids and Teens: As part of our largest summer program ever, The New York Public Library is giving away 500,000 books for kids and teens to take home and keep. Drop by one of our neighborhood branches to choose yours—plus, explore free events, our summer writing contest for kids, the opportunity for teens to contribute to a new magazine, and more with Summer at the Library.  Visit here for more information.
• DOE’s Beyond Access Series Presents Self-Regulation Techniques: This workshop will provide parents, caregivers and students strategies for reducing stress and improving the ability to self-regulate, with simple routines and activities that reduce anxiety and reactivity and promote calm and happy students and families. Spanish and Mandarin interpretation available. Learn more and register here.
• DOE’s Beyond Access Series Presents How to Access Supports for Students with Behavioral Challenges: This workshop covers the educational rights of students who face behavioral challenges in school, including different kinds of behavioral supports and interventions , along with the opportunity to share advocacy tips. Learn more and register here.
• The Child Mind Institute offers great (free & remote) caregiver workshops on a seasonal basis!  Take a moment to visit their site and appreciate their offerings.
• The recent events in Ukraine may be a source of stress and anxiety for some children.  Below are four resources that may be helpful for families:
  • Helping Kids Cope with Frightening News from Child Mind Institute
  • How to Talk to Kids About War from verywellfamily.com
  • How to Navigate Difficult Conversations with Children from The Relation Station
  • How to Talk to Children about War: An Age-by-Age Guide from Today.com
• Below are flyers for lists of low-cost dental providers in each borough:
  • Bronx PDF 
  • Manhattan PDF
  • Queens PDF
  • Brooklyn PDF
  • Staten Island PDF
• Free Child Nutrition Webinar Series: Register for the “An Alarming Rise in Excess Weight and Diabetes in Children: Strategies and Solutions” webinar on Monday, March 7th.  The webinar is presented by French-American Aid for Children as part of the new Child Nutrition Webinar series. Parents and educators will learn about practical nutrition tips and accessible information to encourage children to adopt good eating habits in school—and at home—through an interactive dialogue between Dr. Juliana Cohen, nutrition epidemiologist and associate professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Dr. Ileana Vargas-Rodriguez, a pediatric endocrinologist at the Children’s Hospital of New York. A Q&A session will follow the webinar.  Check out previous recordings of past webinars, including:
  • Engaging Children in their own Nutritional Journey
  • Smart Summer Shopping and Cooking
  • Nutrition’s Powerful Impact on Children’s Physical and Mental Health