Parent Resources

Request for Annual Teacher/Principal Ratings

Parents/Guardians of students in Grades 7-8 may request the final quality rating and composite effectiveness score for each teacher and principal of the school to which their child is assigned for the current school year. Please contact the principal’s office in your child’s school for all requests.

Valley Stream Council of PTAs

President	Tina Castelluzzo	516-568-1036
1st Vice President (Legislation)	Althea Campbell	917-693-1595
2nd Vice President (Scholarships)	Eileen Altaner	837-9594
Treasurer	Onika McDonald	347-865-8682
Recording Secretaries	Petra Tarrant	791-5553
Corresponding Secretary	Sangeeta Pandit	871-6183
Past President	Michelle D’Elia	561-2886

Meetings: Oct. 5 (Willow), Dec. 7 (Brooklyn), Feb. 1 (Shaw),
April 4 (Wheeler) and June 6 (North HS).
All meetings are at 7:30 p.m.

Information about Signs and Symptoms of Teen Depression

Teenagers face a host of pressures, from the changes of puberty to questions about who they are and where they fit in. The natural transition from child to adult can also bring parental conflict as teens start to assert their independence. With all this drama, it isn’t always easy to differentiate between depression and normal teenage moodiness. Making things even more complicated, teens with depression do not necessarily appear sad, nor do they always withdraw from others. For some depressed teens, symptoms of irritability, aggression, and rage are more prominent..

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION IN TEENS

Sadness or hopelessness
Irritability, anger, or hostility
Tearfulness or frequent crying
Withdrawal from friends and family
Loss of interest in activities
Changes in eating and sleeping habits
Restlessness and agitation
Feelings of worthlessness and guilt
Lack of enthusiasm and motivation
Fatigue or lack of energy
Difficulty concentrating
Thoughts of death or suicide

If you’re unsure if an adolescent in your life is depressed or just “being a teenager,” consider how long the symptoms have been present, how severe they are, and how different the teen is acting from his or her usual self. While some “growing pains” are to be expected as teenagers grapple with the challenges of growing up, dramatic, long-lasting changes in personality, mood, or behavior are red flags of a deeper problem.
(Information from Teen - Jeanne Segal, PhD contributed to the supporting article)

Parental Resources

Social Security Online Information, publications, & forms - You can request a personal earnings and benefit estimate statement online, and it will be mailed to you.

NYS Department of Motor Vehicles - Information, frequently asked questions, addresses and hours for local offices, DMV forms, custom plate information, statistics and more.

Parents for Megan's Law Website - Parents For Megan's Law, Inc. (PFML) is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 community and victim's rights organization dedicated to the prevention and treatment of sexual abuse through the provision of education, advocacy, counseling, victim services, policy and legislative support services.

Child Abuse or Neglect Reporting
Toll-Free Hotline Telephone Number & Website

Please note that the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) operates a toll-free hotline telephone number to receive reports of child abuse and neglect at 1-800-342-3720. The hotline receives calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
More information on child abuse or neglect reporting is available on the OCFS website at http://ocfs.ny.gov/main/cps/.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any individual questions or concerns.