Welcome to School District 15

Our District 15 Office is temporarily closed due to the current pandemic.  If you need to reach us by phone please call 201-731-6507.  You may also email us at NYCDOED15@gmail.com

Mayor de Blasio, Commissioner Chokshi and Chancellor Porter made an important announcement about health and safety requirements for all DOE employees to ensure the DOE is doing all they can to keep school communities and colleagues safe. Effective September 27, all DOE employees are required to provide proof that they have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Employees who have one dose but who are not fully vaccinated by September 27 will still be expected to update their records when fully vaccinated. 
The DOE encourages all staff who have not completed their COVID-19 vaccination to do so as soon as possible. More information about locations where New Yorkers can receive a vaccine for COVID-19 can be found at vaccinefinder.nyc.gov or call 877-VAX-4-NYC. 

In order to provide the DOE your vaccination status DOE employees are asked to please upload proof of vaccination through the DOE’s Vaccination portal, here: https://vaccine.schools.nyc/. 

For more information and updates, visit the COVID-19 Vaccination Portal page on the DOE InfoHub.   

Proof of vaccination can be an image of the vaccination card, NYS Excelsior Pass, or other government record. Submitting this information will support New York City’s pandemic response and recovery efforts, and help ensure that the DOE is a safe place to work for all employees.   

·  Weekly Testing: All schools will have 20% of students and staff randomly tested on a weekly basis.

·  Student Consent: All students in grades 1 and higher are required to provide consent for testing by their first scheduled in-person learning day. Families can submit consent using NYCSA or this updated paper form.  Students who do not submit consent will be transitioned to remote only learning.

Schools Chancellor Carranza launched Parent University, a new online platform that offers a centralized catalog of courses, life events, and activities to help connect with families and support students.

Families can visit Parent University at https://parentu.schools.nyc/

Starting June 28 and through the summer, all New Yorkers can receive free “Grab & Go” meals across the city. No registration, documentation, or ID is required. Meals locations are open to children, families, and the general public daily, Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Vegetarian meals are available at all locations, and Kosher and Halal meals are offered at select locations. Locations will be searchable using the online tool, or via the School Food app, beginning June 25. 

Known as the 'Queen of Tejano Music,' Selena Quintanilla was a beloved Latin recording artist who was killed by the president of her fan club at the age of 23 in 1995.  Selena made her recording debut in the '80s, going on to become an award-winning recording artist in the Latin music scene with albums like Amor Prohibido and Selena Live. Selena grew up speaking English, but her father taught her to sing in Spanish so she could resonate with the Latino community.  In 1993, Selena won a Grammy for Best Mexican-American Album for her album Live! at the 36th Grammy Awards. Selena was very popular with Tejano music fans. At the 1987 Tejano Music Awards, she won both "Best Female Vocalist of the Year" and "Performer of the Year." Selena's murder sent shockwaves through the Latino community, and her fans around the world mourned the singer's passing. The popularity of Selena's music and persona has endured through the years. Selena was posthumously honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 3, 2017, proclaimed "Selena Day" in Los Angeles by Mayor Eric Garcetti. In February 2019, Texas State Representative Ana-Maria Ramos introduced a bill that would designate April 16, Selena's birthday, as a holiday. That year, San Diego State University also announced plans to offer a new course, "Selena and Latinx Media Representation," to begin in 2020. In March 2020, Selena became the first Latina artist and the ninth person overall to be inducted into the Star Trail of Fame outside the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/musician/selena 

Union leader and labor organizer Cesar Chavez dedicated his life to improving treatment, pay and working conditions for farm workers.  He knew all too well the hardships farm workers faced. Chavez and his family toiled in the fields as migrant farmworkers. After working as a community and labor organizer in the 1950s, Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962. This union joined with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee in its first strike against grape growers in California in 1965. A year later, the two unions merged, and the resulting union was renamed the United Farm Workers in 1972. In early 1968, Chavez called for a national boycott of California table grape growers. Chavez and his union won several victories for the workers when many growers signed contracts with the union. As a labor leader, Chavez employed nonviolent means to bring attention to the plight of farm workers. He led marches, called for boycotts and went on several hunger strikes. He also brought national awareness to the dangers of pesticides to workers' health. It is believed that Chavez's hunger strikes contributed to his death: He died on April 23, 1993.  In 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Chavez's birthday, March 31, would be recognized as a federal commemorative holiday.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/activist/cesar-chavez

Lin-Manuel Miranda developed a devotion to musical theater and hip-hop before attending Wesleyan University. While at Wesleyan, Miranda started developing the musical In the Heights. With Miranda starring in the production and writing the show’s music and lyrics, In the Heights was set in Washington Heights, featuring Latin sounds interwoven with more standard show tune fare. The musical debuted in 2008 and was a hit, winning four Tony Awards, including the prize for best musical.  In 2008, Miranda picked up the 2004 Ron Chernow book Alexander Hamilton. Miranda was inspired to create a full-length work chronicling Hamilton’s life. Hamilton eventually debuted at the Public Theater in early 2015, and just months later hit Broadway, racking up monumental advance ticket sales. Hamilton has garnered wide acclaim for its unique sensibilities—relying on a Black and Latino cast with hip-hop/R&B sounds in a stage musical format to tell the story of this U.S. Founding Father. In 2016, Hamilton the musical set a new record when it was nominated for 16 Tony Awards, the most in Broadway history. The production ultimately received 11 Tonys. During his acceptance speech for best score, Miranda recited a sonnet that was dedicated to the victims of the mass shooting at an Orlando, Florida gay club, with the performer chanting, "Love is love is love..."  Miranda also scored a Grammy Award and an Oscar nomination for composing the song "How Far I'll Go" from the 2016 animated film Moana and starred in 2018's Mary Poppins Returns.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/writer/lin-manuel-miranda  

Artist Frida Kahlo was considered one of Mexico's greatest artists who began painting mostly self-portraits after she was severely injured in a bus accident. She exhibited her paintings in Paris and Mexico before her death in 1954. In 1925, Kahlo was traveling on a bus when the vehicle collided with a streetcar. She suffered several serious injuries as a result, including fractures in her spine and pelvis. She began painting during her recovery and finished her first self-portrait the following year. In 1938, she had a major exhibition at a New York City gallery, selling about half of the 25 paintings shown there. Kahlo received a commission from the Mexican government for five portraits of important Mexican women in 1941, but she was unable to finish the project. She lost her beloved father that year and continued to suffer from chronic health problems. Despite her personal challenges, her work continued to grow in popularity and was included in numerous group shows around this time.  In 1953, Kahlo received her first solo exhibition in Mexico. While bedridden at the time, Kahlo did not miss out on the exhibition’s opening. Arriving by ambulance, Kahlo spent the evening talking and celebrating with the event’s attendees from the comfort of a four-poster bed set up in the gallery just for her.  After Kahlo’s death, the feminist movement of the 1970s led to renewed interest in her life and work, as Kahlo was viewed by many as an icon of female creativity.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/artist/frida-kahlo 

Rigoberta Menchú was a Guatemalan human rights activist. Despite her youth she became an eloquent spokesperson for the rights of the indigenous peoples of the entire Western Hemisphere. Menchú became politically active, inspired by her family's involvement. An important influence was her father, Vicente, who was active in the Peasant Unity Committee, a group that fought for peasant land rights. She joined the committee in 1979, and was asked to organize the country's 22 Indian groups against exploitation. After losing her parents, life in Guatemala was too dangerous for her, and Menchú fled to Mexico in 1981. In exile, she began an international crusade to explain the plight of the Guatemalan Indians, and joined the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations. In 1983, the widely read book, I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala brought her to the attention of the rest of the world and helped her to become the foremost spokesperson for indigenous peoples.  In 1992, the Nobel Peace Prize was given to her "in recognition of her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples." She used the prize money to set up a foundation named after her father. In 1996, she was named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for a Culture of Peace. Later the same year she went to Norway to watch the Guatemalan government and rebel leaders sign a cease-fire agreement for the 42-year conflict that she and her family fought so hard to end.

Learn more: https://biography.yourdictionary.com/rigoberta-menchu 

Guillermo del Toro was able to parlay his childhood love of the macabre into a highly successful career as a filmmaker. Del Toro made his feature debut in 1993 with the Spanish/English film Cronos. The film won an array of honors, including eight Ariel Awards from the Mexican Academy of Film. His film Pan's Labyrinth also became one of the top-grossing foreign releases in the United States. The work was also a critical smash, ending up on many reviewers’ year-end lists and receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It received five other Oscar nods as well, winning for art direction, cinematography and makeup.  In 2017, del Toro turned in one of the signature works of his career with The Shape of Water. The film claimed the top prize at the Venice Film Festival and led the pack with seven nominations for the year's Golden Globes, producing a win for del Toro in the category of Best Director. The Shape of Water received 13 nominations at the 2018 Academy Awards. The film claimed four Oscar wins, including Best Picture and Best Director. Sounding a political note in his acceptance speech for Best Director, del Toro noted that he is an immigrant, and celebrated the power of cinema for enabling people of all races and backgrounds to present stories with universal appeal. In 2018, organizers of the Guadalajara International Film Festival announced the creation of the Jenkins-Del Toro International Film Scholarship, a $60,000 annual award for a promising Mexican filmmaker to study abroad at a renowned film institute.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/filmmaker/guillermo-del-toro 

Johnny Ventura, whose real name was Juan de Dios Ventura Soriano, was known for his showmanship and for pioneering styles of merengue and salsa. He was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and began singing as a teenager. When he was 16, he entered a local talent show contest on television called La Voz de la Alegria and came in first place. Later, he competed on the TV show La TV Busca Una Estrella and also won first place, securing a scholarship to study music and singing through the state-owned TV and radio network La Voz Dominicana.  Starting in the early Sixties, a young Ventura sang in different bands and gained recognition throughout Santo Domingo.  A music promoter encouraged him to strike out on his own and create the Johnny Ventura y su Combo Show, which put his star quality on full display and earned him a reputation as a trailblazer for adding rock & roll elements to merengue. He was affectionately known as “El Caballo Mayor” and released a string of songs that became classics, such as “Patacon Pisao,” “Pitaste,” “El Elevador,” and “Merenguero Hasta la Tambora.” From 1998 to 2002, he served as mayor of Santo Domingo. 

Learn more: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/johnny-ventura-dead-obit-1203832/