April 2, 2019

Dear Senior parents and guardians,

Congratulations on your senior’s upcoming graduation. The time has gone by quickly and, we, the Cleveland staff and community, congratulate your student and your family for achieving this milestone accomplishment.

Our Commencement ceremony is Tuesday, June 4 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum at 8 p.m. It is important that students and families are aware of a very important requirement for participation besides your senior’s academic standing: the District’s “60 day rule”, which applies to all seniors in Portland Public Schools.

The “60 day rule” holds seniors responsible for their actions leading up to and including graduation. The District policy states: “Seniors may be disqualified from participation in Commencement exercises and related activities, if within 60 days of the last senior school day, they are found to be in violation of the District Drug and Alcohol policy and/or any other violation resulting in a disciplinary Action Level 3 or higher. This includes, but is not limited to, any student suspension violation such as fighting, theft, and vandalism, including senior pranks.” Additionally, the administration reserves the right to disqualify students from graduation if there is evidence that a student or group of students plan to harmfully disrupt the Commencement ceremony in any form or means. It is neither humorous nor clever to disrupt the rights and peaceful celebration of others during this ceremony.

The 60 day rule started yesterday, April 1, and today the administration informed the seniors about this policy and answered questions. A letter containing further details about Commencement and the need to clear outstanding fees and fines will be mailed home at the end of the week.

Sincerely,

Ayesha Freeman, Principal

Support the class of 2022 and eat at Rudy's on 24th & Powell Thursday, March 14th from 3pm-9pm.  20% of proceeds go back to CHS class of 2022.

A/B
Period	Start	End	Minutes
1/5	10:15 AM	11:16 AM	61
2/6	11:23 AM	12:24 PM	61
Lunch	12:24 PM	12:59 PM	35
3/7	1:06 PM	2:07 PM	61
4/8	2:14 PM	3:15 PM	61

 

 

 

 

Cleveland Choir has six students Selected for All Northwest Honor Choir! 

The following student were selected from over 4370 students who auditioned to participate in this outstanding honor choir event that will be hold in Portland Oregon on February 14-17.  This is a true honor and a mark of the dedication and hard work these students have for music. They will be rehearsing over the coming months in preparation for this prestigious event and will get to work with one of the finest conductors in our country. 

Please help me in congratulating the following Cleveland Choir Students:

Henry Alexander

Elena Breedlove

Nora Burkhartsmeier

Maggie Carr

Zoe Kass

Della Simone

NATIONAL HONOR CHOIR Selected our very own Nora Burkhartsmeier 

The American Choral Directors Association auditions and selects students grades 10th-12th and all Undergraduate University levels for their National Honor Choir held only every other year. This event pulls from every state across the entire country and this year, Cleveland High School's very own Nora Burkhartsmeier was selected for this incredible honor.  Thousands of applications were sent in and the group only selects a small few to come together, rehearsal with a world-renowned conductor, and perform for over 10,000 people at their National Conference. We can't be more excited and Thrilled for Nora!!!

A/B/Flex day Calendar

Dear Cleveland Community,

 

A very sad event happened that I would like to share with you.  On Wednesday evening, one of our students was driving a car and was in a car accident.  Our student is currently hospitalized for non-life threatening injuries and receiving care.   Tragically, the passenger in the car, who was not a Cleveland High School student, was killed in the accident.

 

Our counseling team, social worker, school psychologist, and administrative team have been working closely together and with the family. The passenger was a student from another PPS high school. The district Crisis Response Team is activated at that school and working with those students and families. Some of our students have heard about this accident from news coverage or social media. If you have students expressing concerns about this tragedy and/or are feeling impacted by what happened, then, please know that our counselors are ready to receive and support them.

 

Our teachers and staff have been notified and can connect students to services and support as needed.

 

Please let me or Vice Principal Julie Rierson know what questions you have. 

 

Ayesha

 

Ayesha C. Freeman

Principal

Cleveland High School

503-916-5120

Dear Cleveland High School​ Families,  

 

We are hearing that students may be planning ​a Climate Strike Walkout on Friday March 15^th at 10:00​am.  Please read the following PPS message that all schools hearing of planned walkouts will be sending:

 

“While we appreciate and acknowledge students’ free speech rights, as a school and district we understand we must also balance that with students’ right to education. We are not allowed to approve walkouts and protests that disrupt the educational environment.   Students who participate in any walkout ​on Friday​ will be marked unexcused from class, meaning they may not be eligible for sports and similar activities that day. Students could also face typical school consequences for not being in class. Additionally, significant disruptions to the educational environment could also result in disciplinary action in accordance to PPS Student Handbook based on the scope of the disruption. When students walk out of class and leave our property we are no longer responsible for their safety.  It is our expectations that students will return to school following the event.  ​Please make sure to discuss your family’s expectations with your student, if there is a chance they could walk out. 

 

A critical part of our work is to support students to be critical thinkers with opinions and ideas backed by their knowledge, experience and interests. We understand the importance of students sharing their views on important issues; we also much ensure safe, robust learning environments for all students in all schools.” 

 

We are also sharing PPS guidelines and expectations for teachers who will stay on campus to take attendance and teach students who remain in classes.

 

Thank you for understanding our need to balance supporting student free speech/civic involvement with our district’s and school’s responsibility to protect students’ rights to instruction and our obligation to ensure their safety during the school day.

 

 

Ayesha C. Freeman

Principal

Cleveland High School

503-916-5120

Dear Cleveland Community,

 

I want to take a moment to share how exciting it was to be at the Auction with you on Saturday evening.  We, as a Cleveland High School staff, appreciate so much your willingness to step up on behalf of students and all the adults who work with and teach your child(ren).  It was a spectacular night!

 

AND, as I said at the Auction, now more than ever we need you.  This year’s staffing reductions, due to a $17 million state revenue shortfall, are feeling deep.  Last year, we were able to offset our reductions with retirements and some resignations.  We are not in the same situation now.  I’ve had to make tough decisions to reduce teaching and support staff across the entire school.  With the CHS Foundation’s help, we are able to maintain a robust “IB for ALL” (all juniors enrolled in 3 IB classes) program and preserve our academic core content courses.  Our CHS Foundation is also focused upon supporting the overall health and well-being of our students through a funding initiative we have been calling “Warrior Wellness.”  Monies raised within our community will help us maintain mental health supports both through classroom instruction and through our Counseling department.  

 

Last year, the Foundation was able to raise enough funds for 1.0 FTE (a full time teacher).  At this point, the Foundation is able to commit .67, for which we are grateful, however, it is less than what we need.  I am writing to ask that you still consider a donation to the Foundation so that our staffing reductions do not go as deep as they are right now.  If our Foundation receives additional monies, we would be able to add back additional staffing for next year.

 

If you have not already, please consider donating here:

https://www.isupportchs.org/

Fellow CHS Families — 

We are writing to personally invite you to the Cleveland High School Auction — THIS Saturday, March 9 at 6:00 PM.

Cleveland High School Auction 2019
Saturday, March 9 @ 6 PM
Melody Ballroom

ORDER YOUR TICKETS NOW:  https://clevelandhs.ejoinme.org/MyEvents/PromPDX

Seriously, this is the biggest fundraiser of the year for both the PTA and the Foundation. It funds additional teaching positions and grants for classrooms and programs that benefit every student.  Plus, this event is a ton of fun!  Please join us this Saturday!

BID ON EXCITING AUCTION ITEMS

• Beach houses in Laguna Beach, Manzanita, Gearhart & Arch Cove
• Buy-in parties, including a Sing-Along Party with Pink Martini’s Thomas Laurderdale (at his loft) and Dance Party with the 80’s band the Nu Wavers
• Instant Wine Cellar – 50 bottles of delicious wine
• And much more . . .

AND . . . IT’S A PARTY!
Join us for a great evening of fun with other CHS families, delicious food, a bar featuring local wine, beer & spirits and get your ticket for the amazing 80’s dance party that follows the auction. It will be a lively night of building community, having fun and raising funds for teaching positions and teacher grants at CHS.

We hope to see all of you there!

Rebecca Friedenwald-Fishman and Christina Marcoules

Auction Co-Chairs and leaders of the CHS PTA and Foundation 

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!
A big thank you to NIKE for once again being our presenting sponsor!  Thank you also to our other sponsors – Buchanan Angeli Altschul & Sullivan LLP, McEwen Gisvold, Metropolitan Group, RecumbentPDX, The Floor Store and Brown Lumber!

Hello Cleveland Families,
Always so much happening at Cleveland High School. We are enjoying an excellent start of the new year. I want to share some updates AND start with some exciting news that we can all celebrate as a school community:

Cleveland's Graduation Rates Over 90%
I am proud to announce that Cleveland High School has the highest increase in our four year cohort graduation rate of all the PPS high schools! 87.89% in 16-17 to 91.5% in 17-18. That’s a 3.61% gain! WOW! One of our three school-wide goals was to increase graduation rates by 2% from 16-17 to 17-18, which is a very high bar, actually, and we exceeded it! This is a tribute to all of us, particularly our students and teachers. Our families, counselors, school administrators, and our outstanding support staff are the supports that ensure there is great teaching and learning occurring at Cleveland High School. Congratulations everyone!

Hello Families of Cleveland High School,

Today, we learned of a conflict yesterday, January 10th, after school at approximately 3:15pm involving students at Powell Park. Several Cleveland High School students were present as were youth from other schools in the city. Students report to us that there was a weapon during the altercation.

We have engaged Portland Police who are here at Cleveland this afternoon interviewing students. We are working closely with the administrators of other schools as well as our Director of High Schools. Our counselors are providing support to students feeling upset and we also have additional counseling support available from the district. We have ample security at the Cleveland basketball game this evening and Portland Police are providing additional police presence at Powell Park today after school and into the evening.

We appreciate the courage our students have demonstrated by reporting to us about what happened yesterday. We encourage any student who has concerns about safety to report it to a trusted adult. Please call a school administrator if you have any questions, concerns, or information to share.

Thank you and have a safe weekend,

Ayesha C. Freeman

Hello Cleveland High School Community,

Today, on January 10th, teachers read the following message to students during 6th period about how to report hate speech and/or hateful behaviors at Cleveland High School. The administrative team, in collaboration with teachers and students, are taking many actions to prevent, stop, and respond to any future acts of hate. I will be communicating our plan to parents in several venues including e-News, PTA Meetings, “Coffee Talk” with families, and in special evening sessions we are offering in partnership with a local organization who Is willing to help us facilitate. We are in the process of working out the details of those special sessions, so, more to follow once it is organized. I am also taking many actions to communicate directly with students including “Flex Time with Freeman”, attending student leadership classes, the Newspaper class, and being more visible in many classes and the hallways.

I appreciate us coming together as a community to address these issues. If you have not already, please follow the CHS Administrative Team on Instagram at ClevelandPDX.

Thank you,

Ayesha

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Students,

I am looking forward to a series of “Coffee Talks” with parent(s)/guardian(s) once-a-month on Fridays from 9:30-10:30am. Here are the dates: January 25, February 8, March 22, April 26, and May 31. During our first “Coffee Talk” I would like to have a conversation about why we are working hard to increase our student participation rates on our Smarter Balanced Assessments which happen during the 11th grade year. I also want to spend some time sharing with you the action steps to educate our students in order to prevent and stop hate speech, language, bullying, and harassment. I look forward to seeing many of you on January 25th in room #212 from 9:30-10:30am.

Hello Families of CHS Students,

Happy New Year and WELCOME BACK!  With the turn of the new year, I am beginning a NEW weekly “Principal’s Message” in e-News for you.  A comprehensive high school is like a small city with so much happening.  There is always something to celebrate as well as important issues to address in collaboration with you as a school community.

To all PPS high school students: 

You are invited to attend a student led discussion about the Student Resource Officer Program and proposed agreement with the Portland Police Bureau. 

Portland Public Schools has relied upon school resource officers (SRO) to provide safety and security services in our schools for nearly twenty years. SROs are police officers with the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) who are specially trained to work with student populations and school communities in a restorative justice and trauma informed best practices approach.

The primary goal of SRO agreements, across school districts nationwide and in PPS, is to formalize the processes and intent by which school district and police bureau staff work together to address safety and security incidences in and around schools. These agreements also outline how student criminal misbehavior is addressed. The priority for PPS and PPB is to avoid referring students to the juvenile justice system whenever possible.

Work is currently underway to formalize the working agreement between PPS and PPB through the adoption of the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA). The IGA is scheduled to be considered by the PPS Board of Education in the coming weeks. Before that vote, the Board is interested in hearing students’ thoughts, ideas and concerns.

Please consider attending this student discussion and sharing your views:

Thursday, December 6

 3-5 pm

Blanchard Education Service Center (PPS District Offices)

501 North Dixon Street in the Board Room

Representatives from the Portland Police Bureau’s Youth Services Division and SRO program, along with staff and Board from PPS, will be on hand to listen to student feedback, address concerns, and answer questions about the Student Resource Office Program and proposed agreement with the Portland Police Bureau.  

 

Ayesha C. Freeman

Hello Parent(s)/Guardian(s) of CHS Students:

Thanksgiving break is around the corner.  Students will not be in school November 19^th-23^rd.   We are looking forward to hosting and receiving parent(s)/guardian(s) of our Cleveland High School students on Monday, November 19^th and Tuesday, November 20^th.  We offer “arena” style conferences mostly.  This means that most of our teachers will be available in the cafeteria and the library.  Conversations about your child/student are kept to a minimum of 5 minutes as typically there can be a line of parents waiting to speak with the same teacher.  The schedule and more details are in the attached letter.  Our schedule times have adjusted slightly on Tuesday, Nov. 20^th from what was sent through eNews this week.  We will be offering conferences on Tuesday until 8pm.

Cleveland High School staff are also offering a variety of break-out sessions for parents.  Please take note of them below on the conference schedule on the attachment.  We will be engaged in dialogue with parents about our IB Program, Drug and Alcohol Use/Prevention, and Graduation Requirements.  We hope to have a large parent turn out for these sessions.

The PTA has generously offered to provide their annual potluck to our approximate 120 staff on Monday, Nov. 19th from 4:30-5:30.  Please sign up below to be a part of this recognition and support of our hard-working, dedicated CHS staff. Thank you so much! 

See you Monday and Tuesday,

Ayesha

Hello Parent(s)/Guardian(s) of Cleveland High School,

It’s unbelievable that we are already one fourth of the way through our ‘18-19 school year with the end of 1^st quarter last Friday, October 26th.  WOW!  I hope that your student is having a positive experience here at Cleveland High School.  High school can be a challenging place for young people when it comes to navigating the social and cultural norms.  Know that we have an outstanding Counseling Staff, an excellent Social Worker, a Restorative Justice Coordinator, and many community partners who can support your student.  Please communicate directly with your student’s teachers if you have questions about their learning or grades in specific classes.  Our teachers welcome conversations with parents/guardians about our students’ academic progress. 

 

Parent-Teacher” Conferences
Parent-Teacher conferences are around the corner.  Please see the schedule listed below.  We will have more information posted on our website and I will send out a more detailed message in coming days.
Monday, November 19^th
8:15-11:30am
12:30-4:30pm
5:30-8pm

Tuesday, November 20^th
8:15-11:30am
12:30-6pm

CHS Theater Arts Program and Teacher
I am want to let you know that theatre teacher, Mr. Tom Beckett will return to Cleveland next week.   Mr. Beckett will be back on campus on Monday, November 5th and he will reach out to parent(s)/guardian(s) of Theater Arts students in the next week.  He will begin teaching Theater Arts classes on Tuesday, Nov. 13th. I have been going into Theater Arts classes today, November 2^nd, to share with students that Mr. Beckett is returning.

Please know that I am grateful not only for the patience and flexibility shown by our Theater Arts students the last several months. I look forward to our students and Mr. Beckett’s continued commitment to our Theatre Program.

Student Conflict at CHS
We have about 25-30 students who are impacted by an on-going conflict between this same group of students which is mostly happening outside the school day and off campus.  We have been working diligently this entire week helping our students de-escalate this conflict.  This conflict escalated at the end of last week on Friday night near the McDonald’s on Powell.  Police were called and we have been working to resolve the tension amongst groups of students. 

At Cleveland, we have asked for additional security presence on campus and we are organizing three Restorative Justice Talking Circles with the students who are involved.  Two primary groups of students are involved.  “Restorative Justice” is an approach to help anyone, in this case students, resolve their conflicts.  RJ Circles create a safe space for voices to be heard and to repair the hurt and harm that has been done.  We are fortunate to have an masterful RJ Coordinator, Charles Hunter, Sr. in our building, and he is working closely with our administrative team and teachers to help resolve this conflict.

We, the administrative team and our RJ Coordinator, are calling the parents of students we know who are involved.  Individual student discipline is confidential, however, know that some students have already received school-based consequences since this conflict is having negative implications for our learning environment during the school day.

Parking on Franklin Street
Parents, please know that at the end of the school day, we work closely with families of students who have specific needs that need to be met, and as a result, we have a direct hand-off of some students from our school staff to parents on Franklin Street.   Please do not park along Franklin after school unless you are one of the families who has permission to pick up your child at that location.  Let me or a Vice Principal know if you have questions.

Thank you for making some time to read this message.  Have a wonderful weekend with your families!

Ayesha C. Freeman

Hello Parent(s)/Guardian(s) of Cleveland High School,

It’s unbelievable that we are already one-fourth of the way through our ‘18-19 school year with the end of 1^st quarter last Friday, October 26th.  WOW!  I hope your student is having a positive experience here at Cleveland. High school can be a challenging place for young people when it comes to navigating the social and cultural norms.  Know that we have an outstanding Counseling Staff, an excellent Social Worker, a Restorative Justice Coordinator, and many community partners who can support your student.  Please communicate directly with your student’s teachers if you have questions about their learning or grades in specific classes.  Our teachers welcome conversations with parents/guardians about our students’ academic progress. 

Good morning Cleveland families, 

This morning we had a small fire in our woodshop.  The fire is out and it will not impact classes. Classes start at our regular time. We will be working with staff on the machine that started the fire and deciding whether it is fixable or needs to be replaced. 

Thank you to our custodial staff who alerted 911 right away and the quick response from fire department. 

Ayesha

Hello Families,

Please join us for Back-to-School Night on Wednesday, September 26th. The program for the evening will begin at 6:15 pm in the auditorium. You will then have an opportunity to meet with your student’s teachers in their classrooms, and find out more about programs and curriculum at Cleveland High School.  

After the presentation in the auditorium, Period 1 will begin promptly at 6:45 pm. Each period will be ten minutes in length, with a five-minute passing time to get to the next class.

Encourage your student to fill out this blank schedule so that you will know where you are supposed to go for each class period. If your student cannot remember or is unable to complete it, you can get your student’s schedule through ParentVUE. If you need helping getting on to ParentVUE, please see Amy Liu in the main office before or during Back to School Night.   

We look forward to hosting you Wednesday evening!

Ayesha C. Freeman
Principal
Cleveland High School

Hello Parent(s)/Guardian(s) of CHS Students,

The start of the new school year is always so full and busy. I have made it into almost every single classroom already and have enjoyed meeting with several student groups about what is going well and what Cleveland can do differently to best serve them.  It has been an outstanding start!

Of course, we always face new challenges and issues that require a high level of response.  I want to share with you some updates that may directly or indirectly influence your student’s learning experience at Cleveland. 

Hello Parent(s)/Guardian(s) of our Cleveland High School students,

What an excellent first day of school today!  It has been wonderful seeing all of our Cleveland students, answering their questions, and helping them to find their classes.  

I shared an email earlier about our additional staffing we received from the district and some schedule changes that happened over the weekend as a result.  Again, let us know what questions you have.  

This week, we announced to our families and staff that all schools in Portland Public Schools will be closed on Wednesday, May 8. To recover the lost instructional hours, we have decided to use our last designated makeup day as the final day of school, on Wednesday, June 12.

In this week's PPS Pulse: Alliance at Meek students create book on mushrooms; James John, West Sylvan teams win state titles in Battle of the Books

April is National Arab American Heritage Month, and Portland Public Schools has joined the recognition of the important contributions by Arab Americans.

Two teams from Portland Public Schools won state championships at the Oregon Battle of the Books at Chemeketa Community College in Salem on April 6. James John Elementary School’s team won the title for grades 3-5, and West Sylvan Middle School’s squad prevailed in the 6-8 division.