Celebrating the Season with Our Elected Officials
On Monday December 21st, P.S. 217 hosted our local government representatives and elected officials in the library for our annual Legislative Breakfast. Our guests were greeted by the Fourth and Fifth Grade Choir, who sang a rousing variety of holiday tunes under the direction of our own fabulous Mr. Mister. Our Principal, Franca Conti, and Parents Association Co-Presidents Sophia McGee and Tazin Azad, offered further greetings and highlighted several wonderful initiatives, such as the Latin Jazz Ensemble and the updates to our gym and auditorium that have been provided in the past from our allies in government. We were also able to hear from parent volunteers from our new language liaison program, who will offer assistance to parents in our school in many different languages including Arabic, Bengali, Urdu, Spanish, Russian, and Nepali.
Parent Association Members Robin Reid, Melanie Rivera, and Maria Deutscher emphasized our need for further technology that will keep us in line with Mayor Bill DiBlasio’s “Computer Science for All” initiative. Further, they highlighted the need for upgraded equipment for our playground that will make it safe and accessible for all students in our school, and for an electronic sign to replace our old hand operated sign in order to more effectively announce meetings and events. Our requests were warmly received, and within twenty four hours we were invited to officially apply for capital funding from Borough President Eric Adams’ office. We will share more news about these requests as soon as we know!
We love this picture, which reflects the true face of our school…our wonderful children, highly engaged administration and parents, and our allies in government. We are truly a village! Many thanks to all of our elected representatives who are so generous in supporting the school in so many ways and who attended our Legislative Breakfast: Jeff Lowell from Borough President Eric Adams’ office, State Senator Simcha Felder, Rona Taylor from Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichottes’ office, Councilmember Matthieu Eugene, Councilmember Jumaane Williams, the office of Councilmember David Greenfield, Democratic District Leaders Jacob Gold and Lori Knipel, Community Board 14 Chairman Alvin Berk.
