NO SCHOOL: Holiday Recess 12/23–1/1
Fall 2024
This is the online version our newsletter. The print copy is also available for download.
Post-pandemic progress: ‘A total team effort’
Like a lot of students nationwide, getting to school became a struggle for Angel Mergendahl’s son, Alex, after schools, and most of the rest of the world, shut down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unsettled during his middle school years by the frequent and unnerving disruptions to school and life that the pandemic inflicted, Alex regularly missed more than 10% of school – the line of demarcation for chronic absenteeism, which school districts nationwide struggled with during and after the pandemic.
That trend continued for Alex when he moved to ninth grade at 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School during the 2023-24 school year. More worrisome still, Angel noticed her son’s attitude beginning to take a troubling turn as well.
This year, that all has changed.
Through Angel’s persistence and a web of supports that includes members of the social-emotional staff at 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High and a network of community partners, Alex has near-perfect attendance over the last three semesters dating to last school year.
His turnaround is just one example of how the City School District of 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ is working to support students and families in the wake of the pandemic.
District data continues to show progress in areas like chronic absenteeism and state ELA and math exams for students in grades 3-8. Dramatic improvements in our yellow bus transportation services also point to progress as we continue to rebuild.
“The pandemic was such a disruptive time for everyone in education, and we knew collectively that it would take a period of years, and a stronger emphasis on student support than ever before, to re-establish our baselines and jump start student growth,” said Superintendent Joseph Hochreiter.
“We are seeing that positive movement in our school district now, and it is a testament to the unwavering commitment of everyone involved – from our faculty, staff and administrators, to our students and families, and our community partners.
“It is a total team effort.”
Absenteeism: the team approach
After inconsistent attendance in middle school, Alex had a rocky start to high school.
“He would show up to school but would pick and choose classes and hide out in the bathroom the rest of the time,” said Angel, pictured with Alex.
All schools keep track of student attendance and record missed days and classes. Following the pandemic, schools redoubled efforts to identify students who were missing too much school, and to work to remove attendance barriers through an array of social-emotional supports, resources and community-based connections.
At 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High, students who miss too much time are assigned to an attendance teacher who works with the student and their family to address the causes behind the absences. That’s how 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High attendance teacher Peter Justice got connected with Alex and Angel.
Justice (pictured meeting with Alex above) first reached out to Angel about her son’s absences, and Angel talked with Alex.
“He said, ‘OK mom.’ And he kept doing it,” she said.
Justice followed up with Alex, too. So did Alex’s school counselor.
When those interventions didn’t work, Justice circled back with Angel. He helped her identify additional resources and supports for Alex through community-based agencies.
That’s when things started to come together.
Over the second half of his ninth-grade year, Alex had just one unexcused absence. That has continued this fall – only two unexcused absences through early November. And he’s not just present at school, but in each class as well – even Algebra, not his favorite.
His grades mirror that improvement as well, and the team approach to his success – home, school and community in partnership – illustrates the district’s investments in getting more students back on track at school.
In 2018-19, the last full school year before the pandemic, the district’s chronic absenteeism rate was 34.8%. That jumped to 45.4% in 2021-22, our first school year back fully in-person.
The rate remained stubbornly high in 2022-23, falling only slightly to 43.3%. The district saw more improvement last school year, with chronic absenteeism declining to 38.8%, and is continuing to emphasize a layered system of supports and partnerships to keep the needle – and every student – moving in the right direction.
Academics on the rise
While more students are getting to school and class on time, they also are making academic gains.
The percentage of students in grades 3-8 who performed at grade level or above on the annual state exams (Levels 3 and 4) has increased in ELA and math.
In ELA, 23% of students tested at or above grade level in 2019, the last year of testing before the pandemic.
Last spring, 33% of the district’s students achieved Levels 3-4.
The gains are even more notable in math. In 2019, 21% of the district’s students achieved Levels 3-4. Last spring, that rose to 34%.
“While as a system we remain a work in progress, we continue to move incrementally toward our goals,” said Jennifer Houlihan, interim assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and professional development. “Ensuring every one of our students is reading, writing and computing on grade level by third grade and graduates from high school ready for what’s next is our focus.”
One of the keys, Houlihan said, is data-driven instruction, where teachers decide how and what they’re going to teach, based on data that shows what their students know and can do.
Under the leadership of Principal Zuleika Sanchez-Gayle, Sheridan Preparatory Academy is an example of the district’s academic progress.
Prior to the pandemic, 13% of Sheridan Prep’s students achieved Levels 3-4 on the 2019 ELA and math exams. The school was in Receivership, the state’s most aggressive level of accountability measures.
By 2023, Sheridan Prep had emerged from the pandemic and Receivership to be a School in Good Standing. It has maintained that status after continued increases in student outcomes last spring – 27% of Sheridan Prep students achieved proficiency in ELA, 32% in math.
Sanchez-Gayle and her team fueled student learning through a combination of strategic data-driven initiatives, culturally responsive teaching and social-emotional learning practices, with a focus on equity and inclusion. Teachers also visit each other’s classrooms to learn how their work intersects and what they can learn from each other.
“I am very proud of the work we have done,” Sanchez-Gayle said. “Our staff has a really strong commitment to excellence and to the academic growth of our students. I also think we’re a really kind school, and we’re good to each other. Because of that, we have a strong identity in terms of who we are and what defines our community.
“We’re like the little school that could, and did, and will continue to do.”
Getting buses to run on time
Durett Miles says the growth of gray hair on his head has noticeably slowed this school year.
Miles is the district’s director of transportation (read more about him on page 8). He joined the district in August 2021 – one month before we returned to in-person attendance for all students.
At the same time, First Student, our only yellow bus partner, simultaneously lost more than a dozen drivers.
For the next three school years, there simply weren’t enough drivers. In spite of Miles’ repeated efforts, no other area providers could help pick up routes First Student couldn’t cover.
Buses were consistently late. Families were consistently frustrated. Students consistently missed out at school.
“My team and I spend days, weeks and months planning for our operation, and when a third party isn’t able to execute how we envisioned it, it can be frustrating for sure,” Miles said.
This year, the district has built a team of three yellow bus partners that has helped not only return to the pre-pandemic number of routes, but to exceed those numbers.
“The pandemic was a challenge for everyone,” Miles said. “It’s been a huge relief this year to be able to meet the needs of our students and families again.
“It’s like we’re finally waking up from a nightmare.”
Student achievement
Automotive Tech: A classic success story
There’s nothing more classic than learning new skills by trying them out with your own two hands.
For students in 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School’s Automotive Technology program, what better way than performing a complete mechanical restoration of a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro!
This is exactly what teacher Patrick Whitton was thinking when he came across just such a car in a barn, where it had sat abandoned and undriven for two decades.
Seeing that it needed significant work before it could return to the road, Whitton thought it would be the perfect opportunity for his students to put their skills to the test while restoring a piece of automotive history.
“It was kind of cool and a little surreal,” said junior Judson Hardage (pictured with junior Josh Alpas). “I saw it when I was walking to school for first period over there on a trailer bed.
“I was just excited about that. My mind was kind of blown.”
Once the Camaro was off the trailer and in 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High’s new automotive shop, the students saw that they had their work cut out for them.
They began systematically working through the repairs: changing the coolant, replacing the front and rear shocks, installing new tires, flushing the fuel system, lubricating the shifter, installing new belts and more.
After several months, their hard work paid off. Seeing the Camaro fired up for the first time filled Whitton’s students with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.
Proud of his students and their exceptional work, Whitton entered the restored Camaro in Ballston Spa’s “The Way We Were” car show earlier this fall. The judges agreed that the car was something special, and, thanks to the tenacity and skill of our students, the car won the show’s top prize, the President’s Award.
Students said working on this project was truly inspiring.
“I do want to be a mechanic when I’m older,” Hardage said. “I just like putting things together. It’s kind of like big Legos in a way.”
This project and the recognition it received represents just one of the many success stories for 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High’s Career and Technology Education (CTE) programs.
Offering three levels of Automotive Technology courses along with numerous other pathways, CTE gives students invaluable hands-on, real world experience, preparing them to enter the workforce equipped with the skills to succeed directly upon graduation if they choose.
Students noted that the Camaro project – and the auto tech program as a whole – also has helped develop professional skills applicable to any future vocation, including patience, teamwork and listening.
Alpas noted the synergy between the leadership and communication skills he has developed on the shop floor and in 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High’s popular JROTC program.
“There was this super heavy fuel tank and we needed like five people on that to make sure it didn’t fall on the ground,” Alpas recalled, speaking about another recent project.
“You need to get something done, right? You can’t just do it by yourself. We had to communicate.”
The importance of good systems
We’re getting there.
As we continue to move away from the pandemic, I’m pleased to report that the City School District of 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ is improving on several fronts, according to preliminary data we have submitted to the New York State Education Department.
Our proficiency rates – the percentage of students in grades 3-8 working at or above grade level on state tests – increased notably for both ELA and math between 2023 and 2024.
Chronic absenteeism – when a student misses 10% or more of the school year – is down as well, finally returning to near our pre-pandemic levels.
Our yellow bus transportation service – which suffered from driver shortages in the wake of the pandemic – now has more buses on the road than it did pre-pandemic, enabling us to consistently meet the needs of our students and families again.
We’re providing more services to students who struggle academically, socially or emotionally. We have nine community schools that offer a range of programs to students and families – programs tailored to meet each school’s specific needs.
We know we still have work to do. That includes:
- Providing on-demand mental health counseling and support for students.
- Evaluating the return-on-investment of our academic and after-school programs. In other words, are we getting what we pay for?
- Continuing to strive to provide equitable experiences for all students.
Looking ahead
By the end of this school year, we will have turned over all but one member of our nine-person senior leadership team – our district Cabinet – since the start of the 2022-23 school year. That’s a lot of change in a short period of time.
It’s also an opportunity to re-evaluate our leadership needs and structure, beginning with Cabinet roles and responsibilities.
Much of our work with our entire district-wide administrative team last school year focused on our system, structures and alignment. We worked on a needs assessment and our administrators shared, consistently, the need for clearer roles and responsibilities of both Cabinet and district leaders.
This input, along with my lived experience and understanding of our future needs and direction, will help us align duties, priorities and responsibilities so that Cabinet can be even more responsive to the evolving needs at the building and classroom levels.
Cell phone use in schools also is an important area as we look ahead.
We have a task force examining that area after we surveyed families, employees and students. Our work is happening in concert with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s statewide efforts to determine whether to restrict student cell phone use.
The project to rebuild 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School will be done next summer. You’ll have a chance to tour this amazing facility, which, when complete, will be among the finest high school campuses in New York. A shout-out to 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High’s administrators, faculty, staff, students and families, who have soldiered on as new walls are built around them.
Our communications audit will result in you receiving better and more timely information, particularly from 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High, as we implement those recommendations in the months and years ahead.
We’re also starting a process to determine priorities for facilities projects and construction-related needs over a five-year period. This will include feedback from families, employees and others. We’ll look to you for guidance.
We’re on it, together. Stay tuned!
Sincerely,
Joseph Hochreiter
Superintendent
Q: What’s the first issue our new president should handle?
They should make smoking and vaping illegal because it kills many, many people! They get addicted. I don’t know why they made it. Another reason is because it is bad for the environment! It is bad for the environment because sometimes when people and animals breathe in the smoke, it hurts your lungs and can cause lung cancer.
— Natalie Garcia
Delaware Community School
Fifth Grade
They should start by focusing on climate change. Since this is our only planet, we should treat it with respect. How about we use the money collected from taxes to save this planet rather than using it to finance wars? Because of climate change, a great number of animals will become extinct.
— Bas Pari Safi
91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School
Junior
The most important thing for the president to handle is making sure everyone in our country has equal rights. Things that make us different or unique shouldn’t make it so we don’t have equal rights.
— Alexander Rogers
Pine Hills Elementary School
Fifth Grade
The first issue our new president should handle is protecting the environment. They should stop people from cutting down too many trees, especially on land that doesn’t belong to them. Trees are important for animals and nature. We need to take better care of our planet so animals and people can live in a good world.
— Aryanna Grebinger
Sheridan Preparatory Academy
Fifth Grade
The elected president should remove tariffs from foreign goods first. This issue is directly related to one of the main economic issues, inflation. Tariffs can generate money for the government and influence trade relations; however, this can make prices go higher (up to 75%), decrease imports and create negative relations with other countries.
— Christian Corradino
William S. Hackett Middle School
Eighth Grade
Task force examining cell phones in schools
A group of district employees, students and parents is reviewing policies and procedures related to student use of cell phones in school, with the goal of recommending potential changes to the Student Code of Conduct that could take effect next school year.
The issue of students using (and sometimes misusing) cell phones during the school day is a topic of discussion locally, statewide and nationally. Gov. Kathy Hochul has said she is considering statewide restrictions, and New York State United Teachers recently passed a resolution calling for the same.
At least eight states nationally already have enacted restrictions on cell phone use at school.
The district began its work this spring by conducting surveys of parents and guardians, employees and students.
The Cell Phone Task Force began meeting in September and is meeting monthly through the fall to analyze the survey responses and existing research on the subject.
The task force plans to hold community forums as their work unfolds, with recommendations due to Superintendent Joseph Hochreiter and the Board of Education in early 2025. Stay tuned for updates.
You can visit our Cell Phone Task Force page for more information.
Building connections to the region’s future
Connecting students with an expanding menu of workforce development and college-and-career options to pursue after graduating from 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School is an important focus for the City School District of 91¸£Àûµ¼º½, especially as those opportunities multiply right here at home.
Planning with two of our local higher education partners underscores these efforts.
NanoHigh
The district is working in partnership with the University at 91¸£Àûµ¼º½’s College of Nanotechnology, Science and Engineering to re-establish our “NanoHigh” partnership.
NanoHigh was a groundbreaking initiative that provided 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High students hands-on experiences in the university’s world-class research facilities. From 2007-13, more than 110 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High students participated in this program.
The shared vision for its next iteration includes both STEM-focused opportunities as well as broader connections to a wide range of workforce and academic pathways as the Capital Region grows as a tech hub.
That future was emphasized by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer’s recent announcement that the federal government will invest $825 million to build a chip research center at the 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ NanoTech complex adjacent to U91¸£Àûµ¼º½’s campus.
A highlight of our new NanoHigh planning also includes a “back to the future” component for our students – opportunities for hands-on learning in CNSE’s exceptional new facilities just down Washington Avenue, in the building that served as 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High from 1913-74.
Biotech Connect
The district also is working with Hudson Valley Community College to establish opportunities for students through the college’s Biotech Connect partnership with 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.
Biotech Connect’s primary goal is to increase the pool of skilled workers across a wide range of careers at Regeneron and throughout the region’s growing biotechnology sector. The program has a particular focus on reaching traditionally underserved students in grades 7-12 as well as English-language learners and their families.
“These are just two recent examples of the amazing opportunities available to our students if we are positioned to build the necessary connections,” Superintendent Joseph Hochreiter said. “That is a paramount objective for our organization.”
Wintry weather reminders
When bad weather hits, New York school districts have the option to hold either a distance learning day or a traditional snow day.
For the 2024-25 school year, the City School District of 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ will consider distance learning days only after first using all three snow days. We will continue to evaluate these decisions on a case-by-case basis, including whether a two-hour delay may be an option.
Visit us here on our websit for the latest information about weather-related decisions.
Families can also sign up to receive a text message through our SchoolMessenger communication system by texting “Y” or “yes” to 67587 from a number currently on file. Families also will receive a SchoolMessenger communication via email to the address we have on file.
The district also shares information about weather-related changes on Facebook (@albanyschools), X (formerly Twitter, @albanyschools) and Instagram (@albany.schools).
You also can find information on the Times Union website and the following radio and TV stations: CBS6 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ (Ch. 6), Spectrum (Ch. 9), WTEN (Ch. 10), WNYT (Ch. 13), WROW-AM 590, WGY-AM 810, WFLY-FM 92.3, WYJB-FM 95.5, WTRY-FM 98.3, WRVE-FM 99.5, WPYX-FM 106.5 and WGNA-FM 107.7.
Theater Ensemble’s Villain Cabaret a hit!
Our 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High Theater Ensemble actors wowed the audience with their wicked wit and terribly terrific vocals at the performances of on Nov. 1-2!
A fun-filled and interactive performance, the cabaret examined the complex nature of humanity, and what exactly it means to be a “villain.”
Our school community is so proud of the talent of our student actors and stage crew, as well as the dedication of the teachers, staff and volunteers who put in countless hours to make this production a huge hit!
Up next is our spring musical, Bring It On, coming with two runs March 7-9 and March 14-16!
Senior selected for elite choir
91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School senior Iris Whalen has been accepted to perform in the highly competitive Treble Chorus of the Conference All-State Music Festival in December.
Whalen was chosen from thousands of singers throughout the state after her exceptional performance at last spring’s New York State School Music Association solo festival. She will perform in the All-State Music Festival in Rochester at a Dec. 8 concert at the renowned Eastman School of Music.
If you’ve been to a concert or musical at 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High, you’ll recognize Whalen. She’s had leading roles in the last two musicals and sings in several school choral groups.
She also has been accepted into the prestigious 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ Pro Musica High School Music Internship Program.
Celebrating our Hall of Famers!
The City School District of 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ Hall of Fame inducted six new members during a ceremony held at 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School this fall. The members of the Class of 2024 are:
- Robert Alter, Ph.D. | 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School Class of 1953
- Dr. Kai Dallas | 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School Class of 2005
- Robert Menchel, Ph.D. | 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School Class of 1953
- Richard Robelotto | 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School Class of 1961
- Pastor David Traynham | Philip Schuyler High School Class of 1972 (see Alumni Achievement story to learn more)
- Nairobi Vives | 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School Class of 2002
Visit our Hall of Fame section to learn more about this year’s inductees.
Teen boxer brings home title
The 2024 USA Boxing women’s champion in the 114 lbs. novice division is a Falcon!
Nya Almodovar, an 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High sophomore, won every one of her matches, including a knockout in her final bout, during the three-day tournament last summer in Lafayette, La.
The USA Boxing Women’s National Championships showcases the strength and skill of female boxers in all age groups across the United States. This year, more than 150 women participated.
Blood drive saves lives
91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High seniors Nathan Martel and Anya Stetzer led the way in coordinating our first blood drive of the academic year.
They met each donor with a professional and warm welcome and did a fantastic job of ensuring a positive experience for all involved. We are grateful for their leadership and commitment to promoting this life-saving volunteer opportunity in our community. Through their service, they are earning scholarship money through the Red Cross.
We want to extend a heartfelt “thank you” to each donor who gave blood Sept. 25.
Collectively, our donors gave 61 pints of blood, eight more than our event goal! Also, we want to give a special shout-out to our first-time donors – we had 35 for this event. The donations received will potentially save 183 lives.
91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High holds three blood drives each year, with the next one coming up in January. Stay tuned for more details!
Celebrating our MBK fellows
Congratulations again to 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High seniors Rashad Miller and Troy Treece, who were selected to take part in the prestigious My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Fellowship program started by former President Barack Obama!
The New York State Education Department inducted Miller and Treece for the 2024-25 school year along with 97 of their peers from 36 communities across the state.
MBK was created in 2014 and aims to expand opportunities and create pathways for success for young men of color through public-private partnerships.
Throughout the next year, Miller and Treece (whose brother Marcus was an MBK Fellow in 2021) will be matched with a mentor in government, education or business.
91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High also has its own MBK Program and 20 students are members. Assistant Academy Principal for Student Engagement Shermaine Moore-Boakye advises the group.
Sharpe named SYEP supervisor of the year
91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School’s lead maintenance worker Mark Sharpe has been recognized by the city as the 2024 Summer Youth Employment (SYEP) Worksite Supervisor of the Year!
Sharpe, who has worked for the district since 2022, was recognized for his role in mentoring 50 students for SYEP last summer. Sharpe and his team, which included support from teaching assistant Donna Cunningham, helped our students perform daily maintenance tasks as well as annual summer building upkeep.
“Our enthusiastic students, thanks to Mark Sharpe, helped to make 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School a better place,” said Special Education Transition Coordinator Joey DiPiazza.
“I am proud of our kids and grateful to Mark. This is a well-deserved award.”
SYEP provides summer employment for youth between the ages of 14-18. Its aim is to introduce and prepare teens for the work world while also helping them to identify career interests and attain job skills.
Nearly 670 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ teenagers participated in the program this year.
LEADING THE WAY:
Durett Miles
Director of Transportation
Durett Miles started as the City School District of 91¸£Àûµ¼º½’s director of transportation in August 2021 – one month before the district returned to full in-person instruction following the COVID-19 shutdown.
From the start, he and his team were hampered by the chronic driver shortage that plagued school districts throughout the region, state and nation.
Miles remained unflappable in the face of it all. Thanks to his efforts, the district today has a lineup of yellow bus partners that can meet the needs of our families.
Q: Briefly, what’s involved in school transportation?
First and foremost is ensuring our students’ safety, making sure we’re following state and federal regulations. Day-to-day routing and scheduling, and communicating with our families, take up most of my department’s time. Each day we transport about 3,000 students in almost 100 yellow bus routes that need to be tweaked every day.
Q: What are the most challenging parts?
We don’t own our own bus fleet and don’t employ any drivers or monitors. We rely heavily on our vendors to understand and execute the strategic plans my team and I spend many hours building. It can be frustrating when vendors can’t execute what we envisioned.
Navigating and balancing the discussion around disciplining student behavior on buses also can be challenging. We know that suspending a student’s bus privileges might impact their ability to get to school, but at the same time we need to be responsible to our safety-first mantra for all students.
Q: How has transportation improved in our district?
It begins with our partners having the number of drivers they need to cover all of our routes, something we’ve achieved this year for the first time since the pandemic. Beyond that, I like to think my department has made strides in trying to accommodate as many families as we realistically can. I try to preach to my team to be sympathetic and understanding of the needs of our families. Communicating with families, especially during conversations with elevated emotions, is something I focus on.
Q: Why is customer service so important to you?
I come from the private sector, where customer service is vital to a company’s success. We’re dealing with the most precious cargo imaginable, so parents are going to be on edge when something goes awry. I do my best to make myself available regardless of day or time.
Pastor David Traynham ’72
It should come as no surprise that David Traynham practices what he preaches when it comes to the critical importance of education.
A 1972 graduate of the City School District of 91¸£Àûµ¼º½’s former Philip Schuyler High School and a pastor in the South End for 30 years, Pastor Traynham is a regular at school activities such as clap-ins, community meetings and athletic events.
He’s an incredibly proud product of 91¸£Àûµ¼º½’s public schools, and believes the encouragement he doles out freely could be what inspires students to make good choices and pursue their dreams.
“The greatest legacy we can leave this earth with is the inspiration we give to our younger generation,” he said.
A South End native and 2024 inductee into the district’s Hall of Fame, Pastor Traynham attended the former School 1 and Giffen Memorial Elementary School through seventh grade. He attended William S. Hackett Middle School (then a junior high) before graduating in Schuyler’s third-to-last class before the 1974 merger with 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School.
At Schuyler, he played tennis and recalls fondly a history class taught by a young Jerry Jennings, who went on to be vice principal of the merged 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High and then the city’s mayor from 1993-2013.
Pastor Traynham attended the National Outreach Bible Institute and led New Horizons Christian Church with his wife, Pastor Brenda Pope Traynham, from 1990-2020. They worked tirelessly to connect parishioners with educational opportunities, and with workforce development and employment services.
He attributes his call to ministry to a love for all people.
“You should never discount the people who come across your path in life,” he said. “You never know how you can influence them to become someone great or they can assist you along the way.”
In 2015, Pastor Traynham founded ALERT Partnership Inc. – or 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ Law Enforcement Resolution Team. A response to police-involved deaths locally and nationally, ALERT’s mission is to foster positive relationships between the community and law enforcement.
“My desire was to be a bridge for peace and to provide a platform for civil dialogue that inspires greater understanding,” he said.
His life work has always been connected to education. It provides his inspiration to serve.
“My life is richer because of the impact the City School District of 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ has made for me over the past 50 years,” he said.
The weather could not have been more perfect for Arbor Hill Elementary’s 34th annual Pumpkin Run on Oct. 31! Following a race around the school’s campus, the second-grade winners (L-R) Taniya English, Jennifer Tillett, Kaylea Otero, Kameron Govan, Farzad Mirzaie and Myles Walters received a medal, with first place also taking home a pumpkin of their very own.
Jelani Gorousingh and Sherlie Milan were excited to welcome Lloyd the horse to the North 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ Middle School parking lot on Nov. 5. The VIP visitors (which also included Donny the donkey) hoofed it in for agriculture class students, and the after-school Animal Club, to observe.
Teresa Adalian, left, assistant principal at Tony Clement Center for Education, welcomed seventh-grader London Varona, her mom, Nykeysha Sprigs, and her new sibling to Open House on Oct. 10.
Family and Consumer Science students made good use of the Stephen and Harriet Myers Middle School garden’s late fall vegetable harvest during a pickling lab! On Oct. 29 Ivan Cruz completes the first step of creating the brine by mixing water, vinegar and spices.
Roots Academy at West Hill kindergartner Elina Noori and her sister Zeinab – an 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ High School sophomore – took a moment to pose for a family photo on the first day of school for our elementary students!
Dual Language Program fifth-graders Angel Cotto Falu, left, and Davielyz Rodriguez Esquilin carried the flag for Puerto Rico on Sept. 20 during 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ International Academy’s annual Hispanic Heritage Parade through the streets bordering the school.
On Nov. 5, kindergarteners at Montessori Magnet School participated in a mock election that decided the next day’s snack. The young voters first had to register. Then, Ivy Yao and fellow students researched their options and finally cast their ballots. Fruit won with a landslide 10 votes to cookie’s five and cracker’s one!
The garden beds behind New Scotland Elementary School will blaze with colorful tulips in spring, the result of a day-long bulb-planting extravaganza on Oct. 18. Here, fourth-graders Andrew Leo, Yonatan Vaxman, Francis Clark Raguindin and Jack Conboy get beds ready for planting under the guidance of a volunteer from Sage College of 91¸£Àûµ¼º½. Thanks to our great friends at the Vegetable Project for supplying the 900 bulbs and volunteers who helped get the planting underway!
Thomas O’Brien Academy of Science and Technology (TOAST) kindergartener Josiah Shelton used his smarts on Sept. 27 to develop algorithms and codes that make bee-shaped robots move
The tradition continues at 91¸£Àûµ¼º½ School of Humanities! Each year, staff, students and their families participate in the annual Lantern Parade at Washington Park. Alison Brito Samaniego and Nola McMillan are seen here Oct. 18 during first-grade art class making lanterns out of recycled water bottles and tissue paper in preparation for the event.
Giffen Memorial Elementary School second-grader Reagan Baker was enjoying her work during an Oct. 18 ELA lesson on specific letter sounds and vocabulary.
On Oct. 24, Eagle Point Elementary School students became the teachers! To demonstrate their understanding of area, perimeter, and volume Mia Cagua Rivera and her fifth-grade peers-turned-educators were then tasked with creating a learning video – demonstrating that they could teach the lesson – complete with a script, story board and props.
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