Dear Kelly Families,

We are excited to welcome our students, families and staff back to Kelly for the 2025-2026 school year. 

We have a lot to celebrate from last school year, including: 

• Kelly welcomed several new school partners last school year, including the African Youth and Community Organization, Reading Results, Vision To Learn, the Urban League of Portland, and the Slavic Community Center NW.
  
  These new partners joined an already robust partner community that includes the Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization, Growing Gardens, Latino Network, the Oregon Food Bank, Multnomah County Library, Oregon Battle of the Books, Schoolhouse Supplies and more.

• Kelly students reported a 24% increase in their response to the question “How positive or negative is the energy of the school?” on the Successful Schools Survey.

• Math achievement increased by 8% schoolwide - as measured by the Oregon Statewide Assessment.

• Our school enrollment increased by 13% during the school year.

This year we will continue to focus on academic improvement with a specific goal to improve schoolwide attendance by 10%. We checked the data and found that the more often students attend school at Kelly, the more likely they are to academically succeed (see graph below). Thank you for helping make sure that our students come to school on time and prepared to learn. It’s going to be a great school year.

In the service of students and families, 

Jeff Waters - Principal 

Anna Davis - Assistant Principal

DATES TO WATCH 

• 8/22, 2:45 pm - 3:45 pm, Popsicle Social on Kelly Playground

• 8/26 - First day of school for Grades 1-5

• 9/2 - First day of school for KG

• 9/17 - First Early Release (school out 11:50)

• 9/18, 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm - Back to School Night

Congratulations to Lincoln High School students Richard Deng and Coral Platt! Both were awarded National Merit Scholarships of $2,500 toward their college studies.

They were chosen from more than 15,000 finalists nationwide. Richard plans to pursue a career in politics and Coral is looking at a future in the legal sector.

Two exceptional PPS educators, Ricardo Barber and Hang Jones, were recently named OnPoint Educators of the Year for 2025.

As part of this prestigious honor, both teachers will have their rent or mortgage paid for an entire year, and their schools also receive a $2,500 donation. 

Ricardo Barber teaches third grade at Faubion, and Hang Jones serves as a social worker at Marysville Elementary. 

The OnPoint Prize for Excellence in Education celebrates educators who embrace innovative teaching techniques that ignite enthusiasm in their students. 

Congratulations to Ricardo Barber and Hang Jones! And thank you both for everything you do to make a difference in the lives our students.

The assignment their teacher gave them was simple – make a short film that begins with a phone call and ends with someone hanging up. Benson first-year students Dylan Martinez-Torres and Dariel Soriano Zamora ran it all the way to a small city populated by two very big and rather iconic monsters – Godzilla and Hedora.

The result, Sorry, Wrong Number, is one of the more than 90 films entered into the annual Best of PPS Film Festival. The festival is a celebration of exceptional student filmmaking that includes a showcase at the historic Hollywood Theatre. 

The fourth annual installment of the festival took place on May 21 and included a screening of 13 standout films. The films came from all over PPS and ran the gamut from Dylan and Dariel’s monster short to documentaries, film noir, and broadcast journalism. 

If you are a passionate student or community member that wants to make a difference at PPS, apply to join the Climate Crisis Response Committee! This is a committee that reports to the PPS Board of Education.

On the committee you will learn about how PPS is making progress towards our climate justice and sustainability policies, provide input and recommendations to the PPS Board on how to better support PPS staff as we advance these policy goals, and connect with other passionate members of our PPS community from diverse backgrounds, knowledge areas, and lived experiences.

No previous professional experience in climate change or sustainability required! Students can apply via this form. Community members can apply here.

Deadline to apply: June 6.