July 2009

Dear Parents, Guardians, Students and Friends of NUP,

We have just finished what I believe to be the best year at NUP. At graduation, we announced that 98% of our students were accepted to colleges and universities. This group became real role models for all of our students. They delivered A+ Senior Project presentations, and showed that they could apply their learning to everyday life. We wish them well as they embark on new adventures this fall.

The results are in…NUP met the state target in math and exceeded all other state targets: Math (54%), Reading (66%), Graduation Rate (96.88%), and participation rate (100%). In addition, we were thrilled at the number of students who were advanced and proficient in both reading and math. I am very proud of the way our staff incorporated both reading and math concepts into all subject areas. This year was a stellar year for our teachers in their collaboration and teamwork among all subject areas.

The BAAM (Benefi ting African American Males) program gets better and better each month. If your high school young man desires a mentor who will be of assistance from now through that fi rst year in college, please let us know, as it is never too late to sign up for this program. BAAM meets the last Wednesday of every month from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. Beginning this fall, we will also be starting a mentoring program for our high school females called WISE (Women in Sync Everywhere). We will begin with 9th and 10th grade students. You will be receiving information about a planning meeting for this program during the summer months. Please let us know if you are interested in being a mentor for either of these two outstanding programs.

Another exciting venture this fall is made possible with a grant from the Heinz Endowments. We are hoping to look at our programs and methods used at NUP and design an Urban Learning lab where best practices in education can be created, reviewed, practiced and evaluated. This is an tremendous effort that will create excitement and creativity throughout our school.

We are grateful to all who took the time to fill out our yearly surveys. We are always happy to know of your support and to hear your ideas. At NUP, we evaluate ourselves using a Balanced
Scorecard. The surveys are good indicators for us in every aspect of our planning. We hope to continue to have such good communication with all of our constituents every year. I hope that you notice our new logo design… after eleven years, the old one needed a face lift! Our tagline, “Futures Built Here” says it all. It is only with your help that we succeed in changing lives. On behalf of our whole school community, I thank you for caring so much about the future. Your children will be leading it!

Welcome to another great school year,