Talking while walking
Last September at PS 13 on Staten Island, the principal and the teachers began holding initial planning conferences while “on the move” — walking together, instead of seated in an office or classroom. When the weather is good, they stroll around the block; if it’s raining, they walk through the building. Coffee is often part of the routine. This small change has delivered outsized benefits in teacher morale — and possibly even student achievement.
The conferences at PS 13 are framed as a conversation, not an interrogation, said UFT Chapter Leader Szeyen Soto. “You’re not seeing the principal or the assistant principal as a walking suit with a checklist,” she said, because the evaluator is “asking about you — not just you as a teacher, but you as a whole person.”
The conferences, she said, always include three questions that are posed to the teacher: What is your goal for the new school year? What can we do to help you achieve that goal? How are you going to take care of yourself? This approach, said Soto, makes new teachers feel supported and senior teachers feel “valued and validated.”
Melena Napoletano, who is beginning her 19th year at PS 13, said the focus on growth and well-being makes teachers feel appreciated. “You get to see the principal in a different light, and he gets to see you in a different light,” she said.
Principal Paul Martuccio said his role in the conferences is to support teachers in their quest to develop professionally and serve their students effectively. “The ownership of their conversation belongs to the teachers,” he said.
PS 13 has been a Progressive Redesign Opportunity Schools for Excellence (PROSE) school since 2024. Only schools that can demonstrate a collaborative relationship between the administration and the staff are selected for the program, which was negotiated by the UFT and the DOE as part of the 2014 DOE-UFT contract to spark innovation at the school level. PS 13 sets aside 20 minutes every Wednesday for staff wellness, and Soto reports that the time is often used to check on teachers’ well-being and follow up on the self-care goals discussed at the initial planning conference.
The approach to initial planning conferences at PS 13 has had ripple effects well beyond the individual conferences. Martuccio said teachers “started coming to me and suggesting things they thought would strengthen the school — telling me what they needed to make the school better.” He credits these open lines of communication with contributing to the school’s higher-than-average academic results in the 2024-25 school year.
Though the difference between having your initial planning conference seated around a desk versus strolling in the open air may seem trivial, teachers report that the al fresco conferences set a supportive tone that gets the new school year off on the right foot.
Vincent Romeo, a 1st-grade teacher who started his career in September 2024, said that his first conference, spent circumnavigating the school building with Martuccio, set the stage for collaboration all year.
“We are all trying our hardest to work as a team,” Romeo said. “That trickles down from the administration.”