Dear PPS Families and Students,

The start of this school year has been among the most challenging in our collective experience. The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have stretched every person and every aspect of our lives. School districts nationally, including ours, are experiencing staffing shortages that have had a significant impact on our educators, students and school communities. We also know that after more than 18 months of learning virtually, our students learn best in-person.

With the holidays upon us, we’re getting into the coldest time of the year, when snow becomes a greater possibility. It’s a good time for a reminder on how we keep you informed on school closures when inclement weather brings life in Portland to a halt. Here are the ways we get that information to you:

The Grant High School girls soccer team made history Saturday, winning the first state championship in program history. In a back-and-forth game in the Class 6A final at Hillsboro Stadium, senior Elle Frazier scored 5 minutes, 19 seconds into overtime to give the Generals a 4-3 win over Beaverton.

As we get deeper into the 2021-22 school year, we continue to take and promote measures to keep our students, families and staff safe from COVID-19. Here is a roundup of those resources.

Dear Rieke Rocket community,

As we head into a beautiful weekend and next week’s Parent Teacher Conferences and then Thanksgiving break, I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for such a strong start to the school year. Our attendance has been very strong as a school. Our staff has been doing incredible work with your children and every student is growing and learning everyday. Our safety systems have kept us from having to quarantine students, meaning more learning time and less kids at home time for you. Our volunteer base is growing again. We raised over $27,000 in the Run for Rieke. And most importantly, even through masks we see kids smiling everyday. Our latest Rieke Video News show has a wonderful segment of kids smiling at our last chilly windy outdoor lunch this week. Check it out www.pps.net/rieke. We hope to return soon to our YouTube channel with our news, comedy, and student features soon. Thank you!

Rieke Foundation Auction?: We are looking for community feedback about whether we should plan to host a Rieke Foundation Auction this spring. There are numerous factors to consider and we are seeking input. https://forms.gle/RPvsvxzWArJG6ykz7  If you can take a minute to respond to this survey we appreciate it.

COVID testing and vaccine updates and information from PPS. 

This link takes you to the PPS portal where all things testing and vaccine related are shared with the PPS community. https://www.pps.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&ModuleInstanceID=1492&PageModuleInstanceID=1594&ViewID=ad4d6d9d-7046-48e7-a548-a6a23a68d076&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=174097&PageID=1

PTC reminders: We are edging closer to 100% of families signed up for Parent Teacher Conferences. That is amazing! Please put the day/time on your calendar so teachers can remain on schedule during Monday and Tuesday. Thank you to the PTA for bringing staff wonderful bags of delicious snacks to sustain us during PTC!

PTA Rapper: Speaking of the PTA, the PTA Rapper communication is a fantastic way to keep up with what’s happening at Rieke. “We encourage everyone to sign up for the Rieke Rapper, an email that is sent out roughly once a week by the PTA. You will find information about community social events, extracurricular opportunities for students, ways you can support your neighbors at Rieke, and more. If you signed up a while ago and have not been getting the Rapper, please try signing up again. We've fixed a glitch with the signup form. Sign up here:   https://www.riekepta.org/rapper”

Fundraising opportunity: We are starting a partnership with School Store. This program allows families to have certain percentages of their shopping purchases to be donated directly to Rieke. Maplewood has been using and is raising money every day. Please check out the attached letter to begin. www.schoolstore.com

TAG: PTC is a great time to discuss the PPS TAG program with your child’s teacher. In grades 2-5 almost all students have taken the fall MAPS assessment. Students who test in the 95-99% in these math and reading tests automatically qualify for TAG services in those areas. If students qualify via MAPS and they were NOT nominated they will be getting postcards from PPS telling them that they qualify, and then parents need to nominate. Our NEW TAG nomination deadline is now January 7th. The TAG nomination form for 2021-22 can now be found on our website at https://www.pps.net/Page/16664

Cheers!

Jon Jeans-Principal