School Orientation
A copy of the following letter was received by the Gazette

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
Dear Mayor Bloomberg:
We commend you on reaching a contract agreement with the UFT in record time. One issue that Presidents' Council of District 26 feels is of utmost importance is a uniform instituting of a Back to School Orientation. We believe that this should have been addressed in the new UFT contract as a mandatory obligation of the teachers to be available for parents at a set time to meet the teacher and learn the curriculum. Ideally this event, or series of events, should be held within the first month of the academic school year.

Some schools in our district hold this meet the teacher and curriculum meeting during the school day while students are in a cluster class. Other schools structure the event as a Back to School Night. Currently, the teachers in every school vote to decide whether or not to host this meeting with parents. This leaves some schools with parents who do not receive the opportunity to engage in an exchange of critical information which would aid in the academic success of their children. Moreover, parents who do not meet the teachers, lack the tools needed to help guide their children to achieve the academic goals of the classroom. We need Back to School Orientation as a regularly scheduled event with full teacher participation in every school.

As you know, [the] Presidents' Council of District 26 is a strong organization representing 26 schools, 16,000 children and their families that support the Back to School Orientation. The more parents are involved in their child's school. the better informed they are about how and what their child is learning. Back to School Orientation is a critical first step in building a strong home-school connection. Knowing what is expected of each student during the school year and collaboratively working with the teachers toward a common goal benefits the students and the schools.

We are available if you or your key executives feel that you require additional information to craft policy to address this issue. It has been addressed at our meetings continually over the last three months. Hopefully, together, a solution can be implemented to resolve this issue. It would send a strong message to our parents that our voices count and reinforce our drive to support our children academically while providing the framework to do so.

We look forward to our continued collaboration. Thank you in advance for your kind attention to this matter. Sincerely,
Presidents' Council of District 26