Leadership Spotlight Awards

Catalyst for Change Award.

Augustus is an Attendance Coordinator at Research and Service High School. His biggest priority is sending the message that “if you’re here, you are going to have the best chance at being able to finish.” Augustus has a very empathetic approach to students, he emphazised the importance of understanding their background in order to re-engage them.

Allison Farrington is one of the most dedicated, compassionate, and focused Principals in the New York City school system. I have worked with well over 100 principals in this city and, her passion for seeing students thrive in an environment conducive with success is unmatched. The welcoming atmosphere she has created makes students want to come to school and work hard. She inspires parents, staff, the community, and most importantly her students to be the best version of them selves they can be. Research and Service High School is in the top 10 school's in the city with the highest chronic attendance rate (96.5%), over 75% of the students have an IEP, yet we maintain a close to 60% attendance rate and she is now looking to have her largest graduation class in the school's 5 year history. She is truly deserving of any and all accolades that she is given. She is ultimately changing lives, and many are forever in her debt for the table she has set for their success.

Tarek coordinates high leverage data to make positive gains. He has used KiNVO to decrease chronic absenteeism over the last 3 years.

Olisa Fowlin goes above and beyond in our school daily. She is constantly updating Kinvolved with new parent phone numbers and new student information. She is very proactive in terms of getting attendance and messages out to parents. She uses Kinvolved to engage the parents of her mentees and finds new innovative ways to connect school events and initiatives through Kinvolved. She's a pioneer for Kinvolved at the school.

Nadine uses the data from KiNVO to help identify what classes students are missing the most, and what students tend to be absent the most to help the teachers create plans to assist the students with attendance issues.

Principal Cubero has pushed for the use of KiNVO at our school. He used when he taught a class and now makes sure that teachers are also using it. Because of changes that he's in his school community, he makes sure that the first thing on the budget is KiNVO.

Chelsea is the Kinvolved queen. She helps teachers by giving them KiNVO refreshers and is constantly reaching out to parents. Parents love that they can directly contact staff members through text messages. With Chelsea's outreach, the attendance in parent events increased, it went from having 20-30 parents attend to having 90+ parents. She's always finding different ways to use KiNVO.

Mia has taken a new approach to data. She's successfully cultivating a parent engagement culture by transforming the data reports into visual representations of outreach and attendance, giving teachers an overview of their areas of strength and improvement.

Mr. Lipkowitz has really gone above and beyond to assist in improving the parent outreach at the High School for Environmental Studies. He was the key to introducing KiNVO to our school community. He took charge of training the staff and handled all issues that arose when the program first went live. Thanks to Mr. Lipkowitz leadership, the school parent outreach has been streamlined and the communication between parents & staff has been greatly improved.

Principal Sorden, Ms. Sandoval and Ms. Linares use KiNVO to communicate attendance immediately, and to increase parent involvement in the classroom. They sends event flyers, links to clips for parents to watch with their kids about what they are learning in class. Parents love that they can text back which has increased parent engagement. This leadership team innitiative of making teachers connected to families has made the parent-school relationships healthier. Parents really feel connected to their child's school.

Principal Sorden, Ms. Sandoval and Ms. Linares use KiNVO to communicate attendance immediately, and to increase parent involvement in the classroom. They sends event flyers, links to clips for parents to watch with their kids about what they are learning in class. Parents love that they can text back which has increased parent engagement. This leadership team innitiative of making teachers connected to families has made the parent-school relationships healthier. Parents really feel connected to their child's school.

It is clear that Ms. Esther has been a key member of our school community since joining our staff. She has worked diligently to improve and maintain the instructional and organizational coherence that will enable our school to provide the best environment for our students. Ms. Esther serves an essential role in supporting a rigorous learning environment and works to address the needs of all students. In all, she is truly a leader in our community. I am grateful for her talent and expertise and her ability to engage young people.

Venus manages all school-parent communications at the Urban Assembly Maker Academy. She is always keen on providing a comprehensive & accurate information on attendance, lateness & family engagement. She is an innovative & passionate leader who continuously contributes with ideas to increase students attendance & family engagement.