Message for Our Incoming Musicians

Dear Entering Ninth Grade Students and Families,

I welcome you again to Murrow! I truly wish I was able to provide you a better welcome that was more personable. The times we are all living in clearly prevent that. As we open the school year, I am sure there are still many questions. Those questions promoted me to host a virtual meeting yesterday. I am writing this missive to you to share the points that were touched upon as they relate specifically to you.

In closing, I look forward to working with you and developing your musical talents.

Mr. Licciardi

Assistant Principal of Music

PLicciardi@schools.nyc.gov

P.S. For those who do not wish to remain on this mailing list, please note that you have the ability to unsubscribe directly through the newsletter or by emailing me.

Remote Students: You will work from remotely as requested.

Blended Students: Beginning September 21, you will work remotely. Starting October 1, without changing your learning preference, you will be able to access instruction everyday from your teacher remotely. You still have the option to access the building on your cohort days to support services. Keep in mind, instruction even when in the building will be accessed via your personal or a school device from a single location you will be assigned to for that day. You will not be in person with your teacher.

Attendance will be taken remotely for both blended and remote students daily and period by period.

Programming for 9th graders is as follows. All of our music majors, our Music Institute students, are programmed for two music classes as in the past. Under the current circumstances, this is a BIG win.

Due to the shortened schedule of seven periods, many of our freshmen were not able to fit foreign language on their program this semester. The reason for my decision was to place students on track to earn the Chancellor's Endorsed Diploma in Music, which required 10 credits of sequential music instruction without adding academic pressure during their junior and senior years.

Note, students are provided the option to begin their foreign language course of study their second year. By doing so, they will be positioned to accrue the necessary credits to the Foreign Language Regents, earning them an Advanced Regents Diploma despite not taking a language their 9th-grade year.

In closing, programming is always up to the student and their families. If there is a concern or question, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks to being proactive, the Music Department is ecstatic to share that we feel to be quite successful around having each student be assigned an instrument. Huge! This means we are able to have instrumental music classes where many schools were not.

The next step is figuring out how to distribute instruments in a safe and efficient way to both our blended and remote students. What we need is for your children to complete a survey shared by their music teacher today.

Another essential piece to our success puzzle is keeping in close contact not only with students but their families as well. This information is captured in the student survey our students were invited to complete today.

Our old @ERMurrowhs.org accounts were deactivated. Teachers and students will use NYCDOE accounts to access email as well their Google Suite, inclusive of G Classroom, G Meet, G Drive. . . . If you have not done so already, please make sure you activate your email account. You can do that by clicking here.

Sophomore, Juniors, and Seniors: A plan and procedure around emptying lockers is forthcoming. Thanks for your patience.

Several surveys went out over the past weeks. If you have not completed any of the below surveys, please click on the survey that pertains most to your child's current grade level.