Dear PPS Community,

Saturday night, gunshots were fired outside of a district-wide basketball tournament held at Franklin High School. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured and the suspect is now in custody, but if you have any information about the incident please call 503-823-3333 or utilize the SafeOregon tipline.

Dear PPS Families, 

As we prepare for the winter sports season, we want to share a few reminders for our spectators.  

Dear families, students, and colleagues,

It has been a joy to visit learning spaces over the past four months and see our students reengaged in their classroom learning and school activities. I am pleased to observe our students interacting with peers and diving into new curriculum materials. 

This has been a very productive time for Portland Public Schools. My appreciation to all the dedicated Team PPS members who work everyday to make our school system better and stronger.

Dear PPS Community,

Every single person in Portland Public Schools believes that our learning spaces must be safe, stable, and secure, and that we have a shared responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of the students under our care. We recognize that recent events, both locally and nationally, have rattled our community.

Superintendent Guerrero issued a broader statement about gun violence and its impacts on our schools, but we also want to explain how we both keep schools safe, and keep you informed.

In recognition of Black History Month which is coming up!  Each grade level team is in process with ways for students to learn about and celebrate Black culture, joy and advancement as well as to understand and reflect on our country’s complex history. This week our Equity Team led staff in planning a schoolwide assembly for all classes to take place later this month. Each grade level chose a term: joy, community, justice and injustice, unity, beauty. Classes will all present a song, artwork, or piece of writing connected to these terms and concepts of civil rights so that our whole student body will be able to see, hear, appreciate and celebrate the learning and reflection taking place across our school. 

It’s time for our district-wide Successful Schools Survey. Your response to the survey is very important: the data from this survey is used for writing and working on our school goals. (This year’s goal based on last year’s Successful Schools Survey data is “a sense of physical and psychological safety for every Arleta student”.) The survey opened this week and we hope all families will take part to help us improve in ways you need us to and also to help us know what is going well. Thank you!  There are links and additional survey information in a message from Ms. Aud, our survey coordinator, in our Dolphin Digest.