Hello wonderful Atomic community! Please take a look at our ACCESS newsletter with updates about staffing, the new building, and more as well as opportunities to give survey feedback about transportation and more: Atomic Articles 1

On behalf of our entire community, the ACCESS Academy PTA would like to welcome you to our school and invite you to connect with other ACCESS families over the summer! Please click this link for the Google document. 

Dr. Garcia-Arriola, middle school science teacher at ACCESS Academy, was named to the Circle of Excellence by Circle of Excellence by OnPoint Community Credit Union. This award comes with a $1,500 cash prize for Dr. Garcia-Arriola and a $1,000 donation to ACCESS Academy. Congratulations, Dr. Garcia-Arriola, on this recognition of your outstanding work as an educator! See the full article here. 

Award-winning local author Rosanne Parry will be Writer-in-Residence at ACCESS Academy for elementary grades throughout the Read-a-thon, providing writing workshops and culminating in a Family Literacy Celebration on Friday January 31 from 6:30-7:30. 

Award-winning author Renée Watson gave presentations at both ACCESS campuses in October. Ms. Watson is a Portland native whose writing focuses on the lived experiences of black girls and women and explores themes of identity, home, and the intersection of race, gender and class. As she explained to students at Vestal, she writes “so girls who look like me can see themselves in books, and so people who don’t look like me can get to know girls who look like me.”

Hello Atoms and Future Atoms, 

I am so glad to be here with you, each and every one of you: Atomic students, staff members, family and community members, and those of you who are exploring the possibility of what ACCESS might be able to offer you. 

It is truly an honor to be your ACCESS Academy principal. I am here because I deeply believe that each of us are highly gifted and deserve to thrive socially, emotionally, and academically as lifelong learners and valued global community members and that every aspect of our education must reflect that. 

Our ACCESS team is committed to proactively working for equity and applying PPS’s Racial Equity and Social Justice framework intersectionally as we critically analyze and dismantle all oppressions, such as those based on race, gender, sexuality, ability, language, culture and more that deny learners full access to the best education possible. We know each of our learners deserves an education that meets their unique needs, and we’re going to personalize their experience to ensure they are accelerated with excellence. We also know that we are part of a learning community that extends beyond the ACCESS buildings, and we want to connect with and provide support for accelerated learning across PPS. There is a place for each of us in the ACCESS family. To that end, we are going to be moving toward an equity-centered Restorative Practices framework of communication and community building. Every voice matters, and we want to learn from yours.

My personal mission this year as your principal is the following: My every interaction with all Atoms (students, staff, and family/community members) will facilitate more access to and awareness of our talents and gifts as well as to more power, both personal and systemic, as we continue to grow the greatest learning community in the world. I am going to do this by being fully present with you, listening and learning how best to facilitate your learning, constantly reflecting on my own growth and learning, and collaborating with you on implementing the best practices for each of our learners. 

The 21-22 school year is going to get off to a great start! We’re going to do amazing, creative work together as we transition back to in-person learning safely and get to plan for the awesome reunification of our elementary and middle schools at the Terwilliger location. Please look out for regular newsletter updates about ACCESS on the school news section of the website's homepage, which will also go out to current families through the School Messenger system. And in the meantime, whatever the time, whether you are currently part of the academy or want to know more about how we can serve you and/or your family in accelerated learning growth, please reach out. I want to hear from you and am always learning from your questions and feedback.

Thank you again for being here. It is a privilege to share with you and to benefit from your special talents and gifts. You rock!

 

Your Atomically Proud Principal,

Anthony Bromberg

abromberg@pps.net

As part of reopening Portland Public Schools in the 2021-22 school year, the district must submit a plan to the Oregon Department of Education. As part of the requirement, PPS is asking for feedback on the plan.

Dear PPS Families,

The 2021-22 school year is fast approaching, and we continue to prepare to safely reopen our schools for in-person learning. We want to make sure you are aware of upcoming opportunities to receive a COVID-19 vaccine during registration at our nine comprehensive high schools.

Dear PPS Students, Families and Staff,

As we finalize our last Back to School FAQ sections, we wanted to share with you a couple of updates. First, the district’s Office of Internal Performance Audit recently presented to the Board of Education its audit of our health and safety practices for hybrid learning last spring. We are pleased and proud to say that auditors reported no findings. From last week’s presentation:

Dear Colleagues,

The public health guidance is clear--vaccines are the best way to prevent the spread and the severity of COVID. Today we are announcing a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for all PPS staff.