2014-2015 Blackboard Award Honoree: Principal David Getz

Editor’s note: To read a long-form story with profiles of all 15 2014-2015 Blackboard Awards honorees, click HERE!

EAST SIDE MIDDLE SCHOOL
PRINCIPAL: DAVID GETZ
6-8
331 East 91st Street
esms.org
AWARD: OUTSTANDING PRINCIPAL

Describe your school’s core educational philosophy.

Our first goal at East Side Middle is to give each of our students the opportunity to develop the thinking skills that will be necessary for them to become successful adults and engaged citizens. Our second goal is to help our students discover and develop their “element,” which Ken Robinson defines as “the meeting point between natural aptitude and personal passion.” We believe these talents, skills, and interests will help our students lead vibrant, rewarding and creative lives. Our third goal is to help our students develop the empathy that will enable them to appreciate the lives of others and to engage with others in their communities to make the world a better place.

Tell us about a few of the school’s achievements or distinguishing programs.

Our academic program helps our children develop the habits of mind of the disciplines they are studying. Our students learn to think as members of the disciplines they are studying. They practice making decisions as epidemiologists, mathematicians, historians, professional writers, theater directors, visual artists, constitutional lawyers, archaeologists, and Spanish speakers. Our athletic program is both rigorous and inclusive and extensive, offering a wide variety of opportunities for students to develop their athletic skills, compete, and learn how to be a member of a team… We also offer a wide variety of opportunities for our students to engage with and make a positive impact upon their world.

What’s new?

Our rocket club, which is a student-run engineering program that is currently building a robotic arm; our international cookbook program, which is bringing students and their families together to share recipes from around the world; our afterschool program; and our Kenya Mom’s Alliance program, which pairs mothers from our school with HIV+ mothers in Kibera.

What do you love about your school?

I love going to work every day. I love sitting in the classrooms of our teachers and participating as a student and a coach in their lessons. I love planning with our teachers and learning from them. I love working with our student council on their various projects, and I love watching the Rocket Club members build a robotic arm and program it in my office. I love working with our terrific parents and leading our book clubs. I love facilitating our Principal’s student book club and our teacher book club. I love our weekly cabinet meetings and working together to make this school such a vibrant, creative community.

The Language Workshop For Children

After offering both group and private lessons for many years and analyzing the results over&nbsp;time, The&nbsp;Language Workshop for&nbsp;Children, founded&nbsp;in1973, has decided&nbsp;to emphasize private remote lessons at shorter intervals.&nbsp;Our skilled educators&nbsp;will&nbsp;focus their attention exclusively on the&nbsp;unique needs, learning style, and interests of your child.&nbsp;This allows a&nbsp;bond&nbsp;to develop&nbsp;between teacher and student, which&nbsp;has been&nbsp;shown to&nbsp;drastically improve retention.&nbsp; OUR METHOD&nbsp; Developed by the pioneers of language education for children, our programs bring decades of&nbsp;experience to your living room with individualized, active language classes. Each lesson is based on proven methods and materials perfected to capture your&nbsp;child&rsquo;s attention during the ages when he/she absorbs information the fastest. &nbsp;&nbsp; While other online language classes rely on videos for passive learning, we deliver interactive, and engaging lessons with native-fluent teachers. In addition, all our teachers are certified in the Thibaut&nbsp;Technique which has been featured&nbsp;in the New York&nbsp;Times, the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal, and many other well-respected&nbsp;publications.&nbsp;&nbsp; Our short one-on-one lessons give kids the chance to focus, hear pronunciation clearly, and practice speaking in their target language.  THE PROCESS&nbsp; First, students have a short meeting with our Director&nbsp;Francois&nbsp;Thibaut, in&nbsp;English, with&nbsp;their parent(s)&nbsp;present.&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut&nbsp;will determine&nbsp;the best course of study, including&nbsp;class length and&nbsp;frequency, the&nbsp;right&nbsp;teacher, lesson&nbsp;format and materials (or action games for younger students.) Then the learning&nbsp;begins!&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut will continually check in on your child&rsquo;s learning to assure they are getting the most&nbsp;of&nbsp;their&nbsp;classes.&nbsp; OTHER OFFERINGS&nbsp; We can also help your child prepare for: the French subject tests for SAT, AP &amp; CLEP, the European DELF/DALF, the Canadian TEF and other standardized testing, college entry exams, studying or traveling abroad,&nbsp;cultural changes when moving abroad,&nbsp;and much more!&nbsp; &nbsp;

Zeta Charter Schools

Zeta Charter Schools: Zeta Inwood Elementary School:&nbsp;401 West 218th Street, New York, NY 10034 Zeta Manhattan Middle School:&nbsp;401 West 218th Street, New York, NY 10034 Zeta South Bronx Elementary School:&nbsp;425 Westchester Avenue, Bronx, NY 10455 Zeta Bronx Middle School:&nbsp;425 Westchester Avenue, Bronx, NY 10455 Zeta Bronx Tremont Park Elementary School:&nbsp;1910 Arthur Avenue, Bronx, NY 10457 Zeta Bronx Mount Eden Early Childhood School:&nbsp;1325 Jerome Avenue, Bronx, NY 10452 Zeta Bronx Mount Eden Elementary School:&nbsp;1475 Macombs Road, Bronx, NY, 10452 &nbsp; Zeta combines a caring, whole-child approach and world-class academics with unrivaled opportunities for students to discover their passions through art, dance, chess, music, sports, and Taekwondo. Zeta&rsquo;s next-generation approach to learning helps students develop the confidence, awareness, and knowledge to solve challenging real-world problems, preparing them for access and leadership in an evolving modern world. &nbsp; Zeta will serve children from Pre-K through 7th grade for the 2024-25 school year, growing to eventually serve students through 12th grade.

Ready Set Grow Preschool

<a href="https://www.readysetgrownassau.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.readysetgrownassau.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692384562653000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3H4vbx-RdPPdKc5YnYYhnS">Ready Set Grow Preschool&nbsp;</a>(RSG), located in New Hyde Park believes that lifelong learning begins with a well-rounded, comprehensive and compassionate early childhood education.&nbsp; Ready Set Grow, the treasured preschool attached to the Progressive Athletic Center, serves as an educational hub for children 2 to 4 years of age. The educational team at RSG have created an enriching environment that hones in on children&rsquo;s natural curiosity about the world around them in order to promote socialization, creativity, and critical thinking. Student&rsquo;s delve into thematic daily play-based lessons in science, mathematics, art, literary enrichment, and physical education that serve as building blocks for the child's academic future. Preschoolers at RSG have the unique opportunity to develop their gross motor skills at the attached, fully equipped gymnastics facility where they engage in climbing, movement-based games and gymnastics.&nbsp; Ready Set Grow preschool offers 4 age-based classes taught by certified teachers. Each thoughtfully curated class is an excellent nursery to grade school transition. The warm and welcoming environment of the school allows children to feel confident in their new-found independence. As a first-time mom, N.S,&nbsp; was relieved when her son felt immediately comfortable at the preschool relaying to the director that, &ldquo;From the first day of school, my son's teachers have shown such warmth, compassion and professionalism. We are greeted each day with genuine smiles and excitement. My son looks forward to drop off each day and often mentions teachers and classmates at dinner. It's so cool to know that he&rsquo;s making such good memories&rdquo;. The professional and fun-loving staff helps their students cultivate social and academic skill sets that will be utilized throughout their school career. As a mom of two now-grade schooler&rsquo;s, Cheryl L. thanks RSG for &ldquo;...making her children's pre-school experience so special and helping to prepare them for Pre-K. Cherryl continues by stating, &ldquo; RSG staff creates an educational atmosphere combined with caring, creativity and fun.&rdquo; <a href="https://www.readysetgrownassau.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.readysetgrownassau.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692384562653000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3H4vbx-RdPPdKc5YnYYhnS">Ready Set Grow Preschool</a>&nbsp;is now accepting Fall new-student applications for 2&rsquo;s, 3&rsquo;s and 4&rsquo;s. Visit their website or email RSG&rsquo;s head director, Louiza at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank" rel="noopener">[email protected]</a>&nbsp;for information on classes and registration.&nbsp;