ICE Drama is Looking for Parent Volunteers 

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ICE Drama Elective (7th & 8th Grade) is looking for Costume Designers/managers! You’ll plan, purchase, fit and pull costumes (from the costume closet) for our upcoming site-specific shows on October 24th & 26th. Come and be a part of our talented ensemble as we share ICE MS Drama Elective’s first ever devised, site-specific show about Stuyvesant Square Park!

We will be performing this show along with students from NYU’s Devised Theater Graduate Course after school on October 24th & 26th. We need your talent and support in the coming weeks leading up to our shows.



ICE Senior Internships 

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All ICE seniors are currently exploring their options for their spring semester internship, when they will available four days per week from January 29--June 13.

Every year, we rely on the help of the ICE community to find as many exciting new opportunities as possible for our kids. If you or someone you know would like to find out more about the possibility of mentoring an exceptionally hard-working, mature, capable senior, please check out this informational sheet for more details about our program as well as feedback from former ICE mentors and a list of former ICE internship sites, and contact Internship Coordinator Josh Torpey.


ICE PAC (Parent Action/Education Advocacy Committee)

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2017-18 TEST SCORES RELEASED--Nearly a month into this school year, NY State finally released test scores from last year's 3rd-8th grade tests. Despite a massive campaign to depress opt outs (via commercials--run by pro-business, pro-charter lobby groups, via misinformation--courtesy of the state and city, and via intimidation--reported by parents who reported being called into the principal's office to retract their test refusal letters) the rate of refusal continued to hover around the 20% mark. (The percentage has ranged from a high of 22% to this year's 18%.) New York City, as usual, lagged far behind the rest of the state, however there was a slight uptick in the number of refusals here to 4.4%. While I haven't been able to break down the stats yet, I imagine that our school would continue to have some of the highest numbers per capita, with a rate of over 80%. (I have to check with Pete for exact figures.)

As a parent involved in ICE PAC, I'd like to thank all of you who contributed to that number, and in so doing, stood up for more equitable and authentic assessments--and therefore more engaging pedagogy--for our children and the children of this city. To my great surprise, even the New York Post printed an article critical of the tests. Less surprising, but very informative, was the take Leonie Haimson (of the group Class Size Matters) posted on her blog.  

Would you like to help organize this year's opt out campaign or other pro-progressive ed policies? Contact Kemala to get on the mail list for ICE PAC!