Roosevelt Island PTA Approves Renaming PS/IS 217 The Cornell Tech Roosevelt Island School - More Approvals Needed Including From Cornell Tech
As previously reported, the Roosevelt Island PS/IS 217 PTA announced an emergency December 4 meeting to discuss:
... What’s in a name?As part of the 2013 Cornell Tech lease agreement with New York City for the Goldwater campus property, Cornell Tech agreed to:
We have some exciting news to announce! In partnership with Cornell Tech, we are looking to re-name our school and reap the full benefits of an association with the prestigious higher education institution that will soon be our island neighbor. Since this is just the beginning of a two-year process, we wanted to start by giving all our parents up-to-the-minute information about the latest developments. We hope you’ll be as thrilled with the news as the rest of us are!
What is the proposed new name of the school?
The Cornell Tech Roosevelt Island School. The school will retain 217 as its numeric code for the Department of Education....
... Partner with New York City middle schools to create Science, Technology, Education, and Mathematics (STEM) programs, with a special focus on girls. Initial pilot programs will begin at P.S./I.S. 217 on Roosevelt Island, M.S. 406 in East Harlem, and I.S. 204 and P.S. 111 in Long Island City, Queens. Starting this summer, Cornell NYC Tech will sponsor an immersion program for girls in these schools to learn coding, web design, robotics and mobile development under the mentorship of some of the industry’s top engineers and entrepreneurs.but its not clear what precisely being "adopted" means for PS/IS 217.
"Adopt" the local school on Roosevelt Island, PS/IS 217, by providing programming such as teacher training and support, after school programming, tech events, career day options, and hardware and software programming development....
The advocates for renaming PS/IS 217 the Cornell Tech Roosevelt Island School believe:
Image From Roosevelt Island PS/IS 217 PTA
The PS/IS 217 PTA approved the school's renaming to Cornell Tech during yesterday's meeting. Here's what happened.
PTA President Olga Shchuchinov provided a brief overview of the meeting and introduced parent Chris Warsing who gave this presentation on the matter
followed by PS/IS 217 Principal Mandana Beckman saying:
... we're looking to create that partnership with Cornell so that this word adoption really does mean something in terms of how they are supporting what's happening in this building...and answering questions from parents.
Ms Beckman noted that Cornell Tech has not expressed a position on the renaming of PS/IS 217 yet and that discussions have just begun.
The motion to approve the PS/IS 217 renaming to Cornell Tech Roosevelt Island School was approved by the PTA. If Cornell Tech also approves, the renaming process is as follows.
Image From Roosevelt Island PS/IS 217 PTA
More on Cornell Tech and PS/IS 217 from previous posts.
There is a Roosevelt Island Cornell Tech Town Hall meeting scheduled for Monday December 8.
UPDATE 2:40 PM - Cornell Tech participated in a program to get students ready for the digital age.
Today: @cornell_tech, @google, @NYCSchools talk how #ToCodeAndBeyond and ready students for the digital age. pic.twitter.com/M28RuIt41D
— Cornell Tech (@cornell_tech) December 5, 2014Was anybody from Roosevelt Island's PS/IS 217 present?
