The Unity Scoop – March 3

Dear Families of Unity,

I hope that the February break was good to you and your loved ones, and that you’ve had a terrific week since.  It felt great to be back in action as a learning community.  One highlight of the week was last night’s Semester I Awards ceremony for our high school students.  Congratulations to our awardees and thank you to our family members who participated!

This coming week, we honor Unity’s social workers as a part of School Social Workers Week.  On behalf of our community, I would like to thank Ms. Del Purgatorio, Ms. Rivera, Ms. Brookins, and Ms. Saunders for your dedication, advocacy, and support of our students, families, and community.  We are especially blessed to have your talents and expertise supporting our community.  Thank you for being such a tremendous support for all of us.

In this edition of The Unity Scoop, I highlight a number of academic and extracurricular accomplishments among our students.  Moreover, I bring to you a number of upcoming events, including information on middle school conferences.

Have a terrific weekend!

In Unity,

Josh

Josh Beauregard

Head of School / Co-founder

Updates as of March 3, 2023:

1. New – Congratulations to Unity High’s Semester I Awardees!: Congratulations to all of our high school students for recently completing Semester I of the 2022-23 school year.  And kudos to all of our awardees, including students with stellar attendance, students recognized for their achievements in their courses of study, and our PRIDE awardees.  Finally, congratulations to family members who were celebrated for their strong engagement in our school (see the slide below)!

2. New – Congratulations to our newest inductees of our middle school’s National Junior Honor Society!: Congrats to our 31 students in grades 6-8 who were recently inducted into our middle school’s National Junior Honor Society.  We are proud of you!

1. Michael Bennett, 6th grade
2. Gabriella Brann, 6th grade
3. Acai Carrington, 6th grade
4. Seneca George, 6th grade
5. London Harris, 6th grade
6. Melanie Lane, 6th grade
7. London Maxwell, 6th grade
8. Makarios McCalmont, 6th grade
9. Eshyra Miller, 6th grade
10. Malachi Reid, 6th grade
11. Agneiszka Thompson, 6th grade
12. Zea Charles, 7th grade
13. Joshua Corbin, 7th grade
14. Jahlysa Edwards, 7th grade
15. Arianna Garcia, 7th grade
16. Elijah Kirton, 7th grade
17. Hattie Mitchell, 7th grade
18. Tenajah Rodgers, 7th grade
19. Candace Taylor, 7th grade
20. Nicholas Thomas, 7th grade
21. Steven Trivedi, 7th grade
22. Keillyan Garcia, 8th grade
23. Jewel Boothe, 8th grade
24. Emma Calderon, 8th grade
25. Jayden Collins, 8th grade
26. Nia Culpepper, 8th grade
27. Sasha Elysee, 8th grade
28. Gabriel Gordon, 8th grade
29. Kaylese’Simone Nickey, 8th grade
30. Dacota Porter, 8th grade
31. Chase Stapleton, 8th grade

3. New – Middle School Trimester-2 Conferences, March 16-17th: We have our second round of family conferences upcoming on Thursday, 3/16 (in-person evening hours, 5pm-8pm) and Friday, 3/17 (daytime virtual hours on Zoom, 9am-2pm).  Advisors are in the process of reaching out to families to schedule appointments.  A Jupiter message with a link to appointment options has also been disseminated.  Our goal is that all students have at least one adult family representative attending conferences. If you have any questions or need additional support, call Unity’s main office at 718-455-5046.

4. New – March 2023 School-wide Calendar: For your family’s convenience, here is a schoolwide calendar of events for the month of March – 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.

5. New – Help Shape Your Child’s Experience in School by Taking Part in this Thursday’s Family Ambassadors Meeting!: The next Family Ambassadors of Unity meeting is scheduled for this Thursday, March 12th, at 6pm on Zoom.  Contact Mr. Beckford (grades 6-8) or Ms. Young (grades 9-12) with questions.

6. New – Recent Happenings with Athletics, Physical Education, and Health at Unity: This week, we highlight our middle school girls basketball team and tryouts for our spring athletic teams.  We encourage all interested students of all experience levels to try-out!

• Tryouts for all spring athletic teams will take place over the coming weeks – here are the details:
  • Grades 6-8:
    • 3/7-3/9: Boys Volleyball, Girls Volleyball, Track
    • Contact Mr. Coleman with questions (acoleman@unityprep.org)
  • Grades 9-12
    • 3/14: Girls Volleyball
    • 3/15: Boys Volleyball
    • TBD: Soccer
    • Contact Mr. Egharevba with questions (oegharevba@unityprep.org)

• Our middle school girls basketball team advanced to the city semi-finals with a big win this week.  Details on the game are provided below.  Go Panthers!
  • Wednesday, March 8th at 4:00pm
  • 330 East 21st Street.  New York, NY 10010

7. Updated – Show Your Support for Unity to Open an Elementary School by Signing this Letter of Support: As we proceed in our aim of expanding our school to serve students in grades K-5, we kindly request that family members of our current students in grades 6-12 show your support for our expansion by taking a moment to sign a formal letter of support from Unity families.  The letter is here.  Simply enter your full name in the available space below the letter to actively show your support by March 1st.  This letter will be shared with the New York State Board of Regents before they vote on our proposed expansion this spring.  We thank you in advance for showing your support!

8. Recap – Kudos to our Core Value Champions for the Full Month of January!: Our P.R.I.D.E. Core Values of Progress, Respect for All, Integrity, Discovery, and Empathy represent qualities that we covet as a school community.  They also represent qualities that we believe empower our students to lead fulfilling lives and, therefore, qualities that we have a responsibility to actively teach and positively reinforce.  The students listed below were leaders for the month of January in being recognized by their teachers for demonstrating our Core Values.  On behalf of our school community, we are proud of these students and look forward to continuing to shout out all of our students when they demonstrate P.R.I.D.E. in our community.

9. Recap – Unity Celebrates Black History this Month through a Host of Festivities!: Our school community continued in our celebration of Black History this past month.  The photos and videos below feature a number of the impressive performances by our students and guest presenters.  On behalf of our entire community, thank you to all students and staff for your contributions to our festivities and celebration!

10. Recap – – Stellar Attendance in January – 95% Above!: The following lengthy list of students demonstrated a strong and consistent dedication to their education by showing stellar attendance to school in the month of January.  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!

11. Recap – Attention Middle School Families Who Are Interested in After-school Programming!: The partnership with our middle school and St. Nick’s Alliance continues this year.  St. Nick’s offers a rich array of afterschool programming in academic enrichment, leadership development, and extracurricular activities for our middle school students.  Programming kicks off on Monday, September 19th.  Contact Luis Rodriguez with questions by email at lrodriguez@stnickallliance.org or by phone at 646-676-1309.

12. Recap – 2022-23 School Calendar of Key Events and Vacations: The table below reflects our key events and vacations calendar for the 2022-23 school year, including key events we ask for your collaboration with caregiver involvement.  In addition, here is the updated PDF version of the table for your convenience. We look forward to meeting our newest families and reconnecting with our returning families at Family Kick-off-the-Year Festival & Family Orientation on August 31st!

Relevant Information from Past Editions of The Scoop:

Our Community Pledge as a school outlines the actions our staff, families, and students are committed to taking.  By following through on our commitments, we will undoubtedly have an enormously successful school year!

Information and Guidance on Unity’s Dress Codes for the 2022-23 School Year: Unity’s dress codes by grade level are provided below.

• Grades 6-8: Here is a link to all things dress code for all middle school students.
• Grades 9-12: Unity High’s dress code is outlined below:
  1. Tops:
     1. It is strongly encouraged that an official Unity top is worn in the spirit of school pride and in being united in our collective focus on learning. “Official” is defined as a top (T-Shirt or Polos) purchased from an approved vendor.
     2. In cases where students do not take our recommendation, students can wear tops of their choice so long as the top covers their entire torso and shoulders.
     3. Tops must not bear any offensive and/or inappropriate language and/or images and may not be crop tops, tube tops, halter tops or tank tops.
  2. Bottoms:
     1. Student bottoms must be long enough that the hem hits the top of the knee, shin, or ankle.
     2. Bottoms must properly fit and be worn at the waist.  A belt must be worn if bottoms are unable to fit at the waist without sagging.
     3. Bottoms may have rips or tears.
     4. Bottoms may not be leggings, tights, catsuits/bodysuits, basketball shorts or display undergarments.
  3. Shoes:
     1. All shoes must have backs, be closed-toed, and low heeled.
     2. Sandals, flip-flops, and athletic slides ARE NOT permitted (worn with or without socks).
     3. Crocs ARE permitted so long as the backstrap is raised behind the ankle at all times.
     4. For reasons related to safety, the policy for shoes will apply for all dress down days and spirit days.

School Supply Guidance: Having all of our students equipped with the supplies they need is essential to getting off to a strong start to the school year.  We offer guidance below on school supplies by grade level:

• Grades 6-8
• Grades 9-12

COVID-19 Vaccines: Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized three COVID-19 vaccines: the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccines. The vaccine can prevent COVID-19 symptoms and severe COVID-19 illness. People 5 and older are eligible for the vaccine. Those who are fully vaccinated can more safely gather with friends and enjoy other benefits of vaccination. Many vaccination sites in the city no longer require appointments.

• See a list of sites where you can get a walk-up vaccination today. To find a vaccination site near you, including those that take appointments, use the City’s Vaccine Finder.
• Note, people who are 12 to 17 years old can only receive the Pfizer vaccine.

Mental Health Counseling and Social Work Services at Unity: If you would like to speak to a social worker about your child’s mental health or if you would like your child to receive support from a social worker in school, please reach out to Ms. Del Purgatorio via phone or text (347-688-9107) or email (tdelpurgatorio@unityprep.org).

Unity social workers can also be of assistance in providing information regarding social services (for example: housing, immigration, access to community mental health services & referrals to mental health providers, food security / access to food, public assistance, crisis intervention, etc.).

If your child or family member is experiencing a mental health crisis, NYC Well is available 24 hours a day and can be accessed by phone (1-888-NYC-WELL) or text (text WELL to 65173) or by internet chat via their website: https://nycwell.cityofnewyork.us/en/.

Discounts on Home Internet Services Available: If your household is struggling to afford internet service during the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be eligible for a monthly service discount through the Emergency Broadband Benefit. Please visit this information page or call 833-511-0311 for more information.