By Clara Charles. 2nd grade teacher JMayor Bill de Blasio welcomed by Janelle Adams, second grade teacher at PS 154.
By Clara Charles. 2nd grade teacher Janelle Adams, at right, greets Mayor Bill de Blasio at PS 154 on Sept. 8.

PS 154 received two distinguished guests on Thursday, to honor its status as one of the city’s most improved schools.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and schools chancellor Carmen Fariña made a stop at the Jonathan D. Hyatt Charter School on East 135th Street, as part of a five-borough back-to-school tour to help kick off the new school year.
The school is one of 86 in the mayor’s Renewal School Program, in which struggling schools are paired up with community organizations to work with students and families to help bring up grades and test scores. The Johnathan D. Hyatt school was the top performing school in the program citywide last year.

Teacher Janelle Adams’ second grade students welcomed the mayor to their classroom, where they provided him an overview of what they’ve learned during the past year. While playing an educational game, they were asked to tell hizzoner something about themselves, and to divulge their favorite school subjects, reading genres and authors.

“I want to congratulate you because you are very smart, and your teachers are doing a great job,” de Blasio told the students, and encouraged them to give their teachers a round of applause.

The mayor was then taken on a tour of the school, and was introduced to PS 154’s most surprising resident: the chicken. The school hosts a volunteer-run chicken coop, where the children can interact with their fowl friends. Kendra Brown, a teacher at the school who helps manage the coop, told de Blasio about how the school adopted the chicken, and about how excited the students are to have him around.

As the mayor left the school, he was handed a carton of eggs hatched by hens from the coop, before he continued on to the other boroughs.

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