Free Feminine Products in ICE Girls' Bathroom  

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Around a year ago a group of young women who were soon-to-be graduating 12th graders gathered at ICE to talk about ways to improve the experience for other girls at ICE. One of the important recommendations that arose from that meeting, was suggestion that the ICE Girls' Bathroom should always have a supply of feminine products available to students for free. The group felt this would be helpful for many reasons, and for students of all ages. 

Since that time, our school has been committed to keeping a steady supply available. If you would like to help us in this effort, please see our amazon wish list here. Contributions of any size are welcomed and appreciated! 
 

URGENT:  Chaperones Needed for Wednesday April 10 - High School Community Service Day 

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On Wednesday April 10th, all of our high school students will be leaving the building to participate in a variety of service projects around the city. We are partnering with sixteen organizations including senior centers, urban farms, soup kitchens, food pantries, the billion oyster project, the parks department and more. 

Students will be divided into groups of between 10 and 25 kids. Each group will be accompanied by a teacher. A few of the larger groups need a couple of extra chaperones. We're looking for parents interested in spending a few hours chaperoning one of these groups, along with one teacher. Middle school parents are MOST WELCOME to participate. You do not have to accompany your own child's group (students will not be assigned groups yet).

Please use this link to sign up for one of the slots available:

Thanks for your help to make this day a success.

Letter from Pete 

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Dear ICE Families –

At this time of year our school is abuzz with energy – students of all ages are busily working on cycle projects, including our 11th graders who are fully immersed in research and data collection for two graduation requirements. It’s a great part of our culture that 11th graders gather students from classrooms to take part in their Neuroscience research projects. Along the way the younger kids learn about scientific investigations and see the models of focus and intensity in the older students. It becomes a rite of passage for all children here that they conduct professional scientific research.

On that note I want to congratulate our current 12th grade students on an amazing year of college acceptances. This cohort of students may be our most successful yet as they are accepted into elite public and private universities at an unprecedented rate. Additionally 7 of the 8 12th graders who entered the New York Science and Engineering fair made it to the final rounds – outperforming all other NYC high schools including the specialized high schools by a large margin. In the final rounds ICE students received a total of 11 awards – including one “First Award” – the highest possible honor.

Academic achievement is something I constantly encourage along with the ICE teaching staff, but we also focus on community engagement and activity whenever possible. I want to highlight the recent community lunches that the ICE Community Service Club has organized. Each week we serve fresh, healthy and homemade lunches to 75 to 150 students in a large classroom. This activity has been a highlight because it brings students together who normally would not sit and share a meal, and it encourages our kids to eat healthy home cooked meals.  Special thanks to Marlyn and Danya who have organized this event and all of the parents who have prepared and donated food to the cause.

Parent engagement has always been a linchpin that keeps ICE a cohesive community that thrives beyond all expected limitations. It is the time, money and effort donated by you parents that enables Mark and I to send every child on every trip, to fund improvements in technology, to hire additional music, art and theater teachers and to keep ICE operational as a school using a small administrative team.

Thank you for giving – and for choosing to make ICE your community.

Pete

State ELA Test for 6th, 7th & 8th graders starts Tuesday

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Last call! If you plan to opt your child(ren) out of the test you can: 

  • use this form OR 

  • email Assistant Principal Mark  & your child’s advisor  (Subject line: Opt Out 2019) OR

  • write a note and send it in with your child

We, the parents of ICE PAC, believe there is no neutral or default position on the NYS testing program: you either value a system that uses test scores to rank and sort students and schools and so choose to opt in, or you don't and opt out. If you are not sure why so many of us at ICE opt out (85% the last few years--and hoping to exceed that!), see the notes from February's ICE PAC PTA meeting or the 2018 ICE PAC event, A Standardized Test Is A Poor Substitute For Justice. You can find even more info at here, including a whole section on race and high-stakes testing and another on admissions policy and testing. (Spoiler alert: There’s a social justice angle to test refusal and it's a myth that students need state test scores for NYC high school admissions.) 

––This message brought to you by ICE Parent Action/Education Advocacy Committee