Principal's Message
Fall Fortitude
Greetings! I am the proud principal of PS149, the Danny Kaye Elementary School; and, I am happy to bring back our digital Parent Newsletter! These past two months of school have been super busy and fun! We kicked off the year with our baseline assessments to determine students' strengths and areas of growth. We are using those data to build on what our scholars know and don’t yet know. Our social-emotional community theme for October was community building. In alignment, we hosted a Fall Festival for students and families. We held our annual character costume parade for our PK - 2 students. And, grades 3 - 5 were not left out…we had a character costume party (after school) for them, and they had a ball!
To me, fall is the best season! I love fall because it brings our community together and highlights our collective strength as we come back to school and embark on a social and academic journey of learning. I believe we build strength in layers; fortitude is not a spontaneous and sudden feat. Instead, it’s a brick-by-brick, step-by-step kind of journey. And what requires strength may surprise us. Waiting takes strength. Walking away takes strength. Even choosing to be optimistic and joyful takes strength! As we build resilience, old leaves fall and our efforts produce fruit. And suddenly we embrace the next step forward more freely, with hope and goodwill!
Know that the staff and I are committed to building an academically rigorous, yet loving, caring, and respectful learning environment for students that promotes growth. I value student input in decisions and practices; thus, PS149 has a functional student government made up of scholars in Grades 3 – 5. Our executive PTA, under the leadership of Lanetta Darlington and Zaira Vasquez, has been diligent in engaging families in monthly meetings and supporting all of our students (on behalf of the parent community). Based on conversations with students, staff, and families during the latter part of the 2021-22 school year, I created a Wellness Team. For the first half of this school year, our Wellness Team has been focused on supporting the social and emotional health of students and staff. I will expand their work to include engaging families during the second half of this school year.
As you can tell, there has been a lot of good things going on at PS 149 Danny Kaye Elementary School—home of the Lions! In our monthly parent newsletter-- which we are looking to rename-- we will continue to share curricular updates from our grade teams, cluster teachers, and Parent Coordinator, Ms. White. This year we will add message corners from our Wellness Team, our PTA Executive, and our Student Government members (our young people are taking leadership roles in our school and we want them to tell you about it directly). So, as November carries us toward a sweet round of holidays, let’s remember to draw strength from, and give love to, our community, including the PS149 school community.
Thank you for choosing PS149 as your partner in education. Together we will Reach Outstanding Achievements and Results…Go Lions!
Contact us here:
Email: ps149k@gmail.com
Website: https://www.ps149dannykaye.com/
Location: 700 Sutter Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Phone: 718-688-7620
Twitter: @dknyc149
