PS/MS 47Q Chris Galas School

News & Announcements

• 2021-2022 Supply Lists

  The new supply lists (listed by class) have been posted.  To view the lists, please click "Families" and then "Supply Lists"

  PS/MS 47Q

• Chancellor Banks Letter 1/5/22

  January 5, 2022
  Dear Families,
  It’s an honor to serve with Mayor Eric Adams as I become your new Schools Chancellor—and to welcome your children back to school after their much-deserved winter break. The health and safety of our children, families, and staff is our highest priority. I hope you received the recent letter outlining the new health and safety measures we have put in place to ensure that your children remain safe and that our schools remain open. We continue to encourage families to get tested, get vaccinated, and consent to in-school testing. If you missed the letter, you can read it at schools.nyc.gov/messagesforfamilies.

  As a parent and life-long educator, I believe that every young person is filled with brilliance, promise, and gifts. I believe that all children deserve a strong academic foundation that prepares them to graduate with an employable skill set. Equally important, they deserve the tools and support needed to be physically and emotionally healthy. And as a proud New Yorker, born in Brooklyn, I know the difference an excellent educator and school can make in a child’s life. I will never forget the teacher at P.S. 161 in Brooklyn who transformed my life: Mrs. Mildred Scott. She taught me about Black history and culture. She also taught me that I had a responsibility to my community, a value reinforced by my parents.

  I took those lessons with me to Queens, where I graduated from Hillcrest High School and then attended college. Now, I didn’t plan on becoming a teacher. In fact, I was a school safety officer for a year when I was bitten by the teaching bug. Wouldn’t you know it, I began my first teaching job at P.S. 167 in my old neighborhood on Eastern Parkway. From there, I became a founding principal at the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice, and later at the Eagle Academy for Young Men, where I proved that a high-quality college preparatory education for young men of color can be provided in a public-school setting.

  In the more than 30 years I’ve been doing this work, I’ve learned a few things about education. I learned that the answers to how we improve the system exist in the hearts and minds of our teachers, principals, children, and families. I learned that you cannot create innovative and high-quality schools that serve all students without engaging the entire community. And so, in my first week as your Chancellor, I welcome your input and partnership as we work together to ensure that the nation’s largest school system also becomes the nation’s best
  school system.

  To achieve this goal, we will work on behalf of all our children–children from every neighborhood, and especially those who have been historically left behind. Children who are learning to speak English. Children with disabilities. Children who live in temporary housing. We will work day in and day out for all of our children, because they are all capable of thriving. This means giving every student the support, learning experiences, and resources to graduate from high school, attend college or learn a trade, get a great job, and become informed and engaged citizens.

  
  You can count on me to always be honest. I won’t sugarcoat it: we face enormous challenges, and we can only change a system as large as ours with an all-hands-on-deck approach. This is particularly true as we enter our third year of a pandemic that has required us to adapt to new ways of teaching and learning. This is where you, our families, come in. We want to reach every one of you and welcome you as partners in your children’s education. We want your input on the policies that affect your children. Over the coming months you will begin to see new and improved ways to communicate with our school system. We want to empower you to be advocates for your children, your schools, and your communities. We want to bring in our parents who are not typically engaged with the school system and elevate their crucial voices.

  I began this letter with my commitment to safety and I want to reassure you that we will do everything in our
  power to keep your children safe and our schools open, with as little disruption as possible. We owe your children
  nothing less. Thank you for your warm wishes and for your support as we lift all our students higher.
  Soaring high,
  David C. Banks
  Chancellor
  New York City Department of Education

  PS/MS 47Q

• Chancellor Porter & Banks Letter 12/28/2021

  Dear Families,

  We hope you had a restful holiday and were able to spend time with your loved ones. As we look ahead to the New Year, our highest priority is to continue to ensure the health and safety of our students, families, and staff. Schools will be open, as scheduled, beginning January 3 for all students. We are putting additional health and safety measures in place to ensure students and staff are safe and that our schools can continue to be open.

  You will notice that this letter is coming to you jointly from outgoing Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter and incoming Schools Chancellor David C. Banks. The Department of Education’s leadership is changing, but one thing remains the same: our unwavering commitment to safely providing our students with a top-quality education that leads to their long-term success.

  The following updates were made in partnership with our City and State public health colleagues and are based on federal and scientific guidance.

   

  COVID-19 Testing Before Returning on January 3

   To keep our school communities safe upon everyone’s return to school buildings, we strongly encourage that all students get tested for COVID-19, through a PCR, lab-based rapid test, or a home test
  kit, before returning to school on January 3, regardless of vaccination status. For a list of testing sites, including sites with at-home rapid tests, call 212- COVID19, visit http://nyc.gov/covidtest, or text "COVID TEST" to 855-48, or call 311 to find a nearby testing site. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) continues to open new testing sites, so please check back often for updates.

   Additionally, many pharmacies and doctor’s offices may be offering COVID-19 testing. Please check with your pediatrician’s office or local pharmacy to see if you can schedule a test.

   

  Home Test Kits

   Beginning January 3, schools will distribute free, take-home COVID-19 rapid test kits to any students or staff who exhibit COVID-like symptoms or have been in a classroom where a positive case has been identified.

   Students who have a take-home test kit will need to take the test two times over the course of five days (each kit includes two tests).
  o Students who may have been exposed to COVID in the school should take a test that evening and then again on Day 5.
  o If a student begins to show symptoms of COVID before Day 5, you should use the test kit immediately.

   Anyone who tests positive on a take-home test should immediately report it to the school and begin isolating. Students who test positive must isolate for 10 days and can return to school on Day 11. No negative test is required to return to school.

   Remember, all students, staff and visitors must pass the DOE health screener in order to enter school buildings. Additional questions will be added to the health screeners for those students and staff who receive at-home rapid test kits to share their negative result. No other proof of a negative result is required in order for these students to enter the school building.

   

  New Quarantine Policy

  Our goal is to ensure that students safely remain in school as much as possible, and we have updated our policies to ensure we meet this goal. This means that if there is a positive case in a classroom:
   Students who were in close proximity to these students will no longer have to quarantine and will continue attending school if they do not have symptoms and do not have a positive test result from a COVID test.

   Instead, all students and adults in that classroom will receive a take-home rapid test kit. The test kits contain two tests.

   Those who have a take-home test kit will need to take two tests over the course of five days. Increased In-School Surveillance Testing To further ensure the safety of our students, families, and staff, the in-school surveillance testing program is expanding to double the number of individuals tested in each school, including both vaccinated and unvaccinated students, in grades 1 and up. The random in school surveillance program continues to provide public health experts with an accurate look at the prevalence of COVID-19 in schools. We encourage all families, regardless of whether their child is vaccinated, to consent to in-school testing through their NYC Schools Account or return a signed paper form to the school. Additional information on testing for students can be found on the DOE website: https://www.schools.nyc.gov/school-life/health-and-wellness/covidinformation/covid-19-testing-for-students

  Testing is a critical part of keeping schools open and communities safe. Thank you for your cooperation by consenting to and participating in our in-school testing program!

  We know that nothing is more important to you than keeping your children in school, learning in healthy and safe environments. The changes we are announcing today aim to keep students in our classrooms with the least amount of disruption as possible, while putting their safety front and center.

   We will continue to update you as the situation changes and hear your feedback on these updated policies and procedures. In the meantime, please feel free to share your feedback at FACE@schools.nyc.gov. We thank you in advance for partnering with us to keep our children safe in school.

   

  In partnership,
  Meisha Porter, New York City Schools Chancellor 

  David C. Banks, Incoming New York City Schools Chancellor

  PS/MS 47Q

• Chancellor Porter Letter 12/16/2021

  Dear Families,
  It has come to our attention that there is a social media challenge proposed on TikTok and other social media platforms encouraging students to “call in bomb threats, school shooting threats, etc.” at schools across the United States. This social media challenge is not specific to only New York City, and many of the posts are general and not specific to one school.
  The safety of everyone who enters our school buildings is always our highest priority and responsibility. Every threat to a school community is taken extremely seriously and we work closely with the NYPD to investigate threats made to any school community. If your school is named in a specific threat, please call 911 immediately and 1-888-NYC-SAFE. Additional supports will be deployed to the school as needed.

  
  Safety and security are a community responsibility, and we are encouraging you to have conversations with your child about responsible social media use and the consequences of making threats. Schools and families can find information about digital citizenship on the DOE webpage: https://www.schools.nyc.gov/school-life/school-environment/digital-citizenship. Any social media posts or challenges involving threats or actions of violence against school communities will not be tolerated. Threats of violence have very real consequences regardless of the reason the threat was made, and we do not want our young people to jeopardize their bright futures over social media challenges such as these.

  
  If you or your child witness any suspicious activities on social media, please call 911 or notify a trusted adult if at a school. We are committed to continuing to closely monitor this matter.
  Thank you as always for everything you do to keep our school communities safe, and please do not hesitate to reach out to your principal.

  In partnership,
  Meisha Porter
  New York City Schools Chancellor

  PS/MS 47Q

• Chancellor Porter Letter 12/1/2021

  December 1, 2021
  Dear Families,
  Since March, I have had the honor of a lifetime to serve as Chancellor for the incredible schools, educators, communities, families and most importantly, your children who make up the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE). Today, I am sharing the bittersweet news that I will be stepping down from my role as Chancellor at the end of this calendar year.
  My biggest message to you today is one of gratitude - thank you for the trust, patience, kindness, and commitment to our schools you have shown over the past few months. With your partnership, we have done so much together to welcome students back to a school year like no other – this year of homecoming.

  
  As a mother of a school-aged child myself, I know that the return to fully in-person schooling has been at times both joyful and challenging. Coming out of a once in a lifetime pandemic, when our children needed immense academic and emotional care, it has taken a village to provide the support our students deserve. I’m thrilled that we did the impossible, and led the nation by safely reopening every single school for in-person learning to ensure our babies got the support and attention they needed.

  The intense work that has gone into supporting all students goes far beyond any single person or leader. Some of the priorities and initiatives I know will continue include:

  
  1. MAINTAINING SAFE AND HEALTHY SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS: New York City is leading the nation both with a staff of 100% vaccinated educators, and families rapidly accessing the opportunity to get their children vaccinated who are 5 years or older. In just the last few weeks, our schools have helped vaccinate over 43,000 students against COVID-19. If you haven’t had your child vaccinated yet, it’s never too late! Visit schools.nyc.gov/coronavirus to find locations nearby and to make an appointment.
  I’m proud of the decision we made in New York City to prioritize in-person student learning, and am so grateful for the trust and partnership of parents and educators in making this a reality for our students. Progress is not possible without your active participation; having your children vaccinated is central to our ability to maintain a healthy school environment.
  Through the measures we’ve taken like increasing vaccination rates, universal masking, daily health screenings and random weekly testing of students, we’ve managed to keep our in-school positivity rate extremely low at 0.24% and minimize disruptions to learning this year. We will continue to be vigilant about these measures to keep schools open for your children. I encourage you to visit schools.nyc.gov/coronavirus for the latest information on COVID-19 health and safety protocols in our schools, testing and vaccination updates, and more.

  
  2. GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CHILD’S EDUCATION NEEDS: As we began this school year, it was essential that we knew where students were both academically and emotionally, so that we could provide them with targeted resources and support to meet their needs. To do this, our educators have begun using new academic and social and emotional ‘screeners’ across all of our schools this year. These tools provide low-stakes opportunities for teachers to get an idea of where students’ strengths and needs are at a certain point in the school year, so that we can connect them with the right resources or targeted interventions to support their learning and development. We encourage you to work with your school and teachers to learn
  more about these tools, and to work together to utilize the results to help understand and provide what our students need.

  
  3. INVESTING IN NEW SUPPORTS AND RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS: As we shared in July, we are investing hundreds of millions of dollars from the American Rescue Plan this school year in the form of new resources and additional staff - including social workers, literacy teachers and coaches - so that all students in NYCDOE schools receive the tools and support they need to thrive.
  Our focus areas include: new social and emotional investments to help students heal from the past year, academic investments to make your child’s literacy skills a priority, more special education support available to students with disabilities, helping high school students get ready for college and career, and ensuring that all children learn challenging material that reflects who they are throughout their time in our schools with our new Mosaic curriculum. Learn more here: schools.nyc.gov/about-us/funding/

  
  Lastly, I simply want to say thank you again for all that you do for your children and our schools. We have worked hard every day to support our families and colleagues get back to a sense of normalcy while recognizing this moment in history as a critical time to make important and innovative changes that better address our students’ needs. We could not do this without your partnership, and I am immensely grateful for the trust you have put in the DOE and in me.

  
  Your partnership has made it possible to keep our students safe and healthy, to get to know their education needs even better than before, and to provide them with stronger and more durable tools to meet their immense potential. Despite the challenging year-and-a-half we’ve endured, I believe we have a great opportunity to learn from our recent experience and to move forward toward a brighter future for our children. I know the next administration will share in this commitment, and I will work closely with the next Chancellor to ensure that a positive, welcoming, and affirming experience for all children continues this year and beyond.

  
  In partnership,
  Meisha Porter
  New York City Schools Chancellor

  PS/MS 47Q

• Update Information

  Please access your NYC Schools Account (NYCSA) to update all information regarding your child

  PS/MS 47Q

• Bus information

  To view your child's bus information, please access your NYC Schools Account (NYCSA)

  PS/MS 47Q