Santa Emphasized School Values at P.S. 676

On Thursday, December 20, PS 676 held their second annual gift giving and holiday celebration. This year’s event was a big success.

Every student received at least one toy, got to meet Santa Claus (Councilman Carlos Menchaca) and had milk and cookies. There was also a holiday performance by the kids.
Principal Priscilla Figueroa, who is in her first full year at the school, played Santa’s wife.
Santa asked everyone to raise their hands if they had been naughty and raise their hands if they had been nice. He then told them that there is still time to get on the nice list.

Principal Figueroa puts an emphasis on the school’s core values and Santa asked the kids to tell him some of them. They then offered the values empathy, respect, integrity, curiosity and kindness and provided a definition.

“We want to make leaders in the community,” Figueroa added after the Holidays Around the World performance. “We want to teach them the core values and make sure they grow up owning them and understanding them and using them in the real world.”
The first part of the gift giving was for the PS 676 after school program, which is administered by the YMCA, and the second part was for everyone else.

A lot went into planning this event and Figueroa thinks this day of gift giving is a very significant one for the kids in the school.

“I think it was very important,” Figueroa said. “Some of them, I am not sure whether or not they have a Christmas at home. A lot of the parents struggle but at least we can provide them with a Christmas and can give them gifts here. We were able to get extra contributions so if there were siblings or other children that came by, we were able to give them a gift as well.”

The school reached out to many different community organizations and got contributions from local churches, the community board, the district council, District 15 and Toys for Tots. Other schools in the area and the Community Education Council President (CEC) donated. Portside, Redemption Church, Red Hook Initiative and the school’s PTA volunteered at the event.

“We want our parents to come in and see what the children are learning,” Figueroa said as many parents watched the holiday celebration. “It makes the children feel good, it welcomes the community and builds parent engagement.”

Nathan Weiser