Letter from the Executive Director
2022-2023 School Year
Dear Families,
We hope you are well and safe as we prepare for our new school year.
This past school year was a very positive one for CHSLSJ! With your help and support, we made significant progress in moving our school forward. We graduated 87 of our scholars. 84 received acceptance and are starting college in September, and two are going into the military. We did that with the help of our Board of Trustees, our families, scholars, and staff at Law & Social Justice. We could not have achieved this without the help and support of all our students and their families - thank you!
Welcome to the new school year, 2022-2023!
This school year is significant as it is our "Charter Renewal Year". We have two goals for this renewal: to be granted a five-year renewal and to be approved to expand to a middle school that would open doors to a 6th-grade class in September 2023.
On September 20th, a member of the Board of Regents, Regent Ferrer, will visit our school to learn about all the great things happening at CHSLSJ including our Law and Social Justice classes and in-school college credit courses. She will also visit many classes seeing that Law and Social Justice are a foundation for everything we do at LSJ. Then later in the fall, the State Education Department will officially visit to review every part of our school and make a recommendation for future years.
Families can support our renewal efforts by making sure your child arrives at school on time and in uniform every day; our school is at our best when our whole community is here actively participating! We will also ask families and scholars to participate in the renewal by completing surveys, attending, and participating in a town hall meeting.
All scholars are required to attend the Back to School Orientation, in person, on the first full day of school Thursday, September 8, 2021.
On Thursday, September 8th, CHSLSJ will re-open for instruction with a change in our schedule this year. Classes begin at 8:25 am and go until 3:49 pm, Monday through Friday. All scholars are enrolled in a first-period core class at 8:25 AM (not advisory) so it is imperative that all students are seated in class at 8:25 AM.
All students will follow a structured schedule that includes core and elective courses which allows socialization and services throughout the school day. At 4:00 pm, we will start a robust extracurricular, academic, and sports after-school program, which all students will be encouraged to join. To participate, your child must be vaccinated.
Once a month, on different Fridays, we have planned asynchronous learning days. On these days, scholars will have time to work on class projects and make up missing assignments while working from home. Additionally, all students will be assigned Suite 360 lessons to support their socio-emotional health and prepare them for upcoming Advisory lessons. On these days, scholars will have support from our counselors and deans.
COVID is still very much a part of our lives, and we urge all families to have their children vaccinated and to wear a mask. These are not required but encouraged. All members of our staff must be vaccinated. If you want your child to go on field trips, attend after-school, or play sports, they must be vaccinated. We will continue our weekly saliva testing of a random group of scholars and staff. If you have not yet signed a permission slip for this, please do so by the first week of school.
We are excited for the start of another school year and a continuation of our plan to become the #1 school in New York City. We care about each of our scholars and their families. We will continue to build a safe place that respects each community member focusing on law and social justice.
Thank you again for your support, and together we will make 2022-23 a fantastic year!
If you have concerns about the coming year or additional questions, don't hesitate to get in touch with us.
Be safe!
Richard Burke & Liz Runco
Executive Director/HOS Principal