Hello Astor Families, 

Classroom/homeroom teacher notifications have been released for all 1st through 8th graders. If you did not receive this information or you have multiple children in the same grade level, then please reach out to the office starting at 503-916-6244. The office hours are from 8am to 4pm daily. Kindergarten families will receive a phone call regarding your child's teacher, school start date, and parent-teacher meeting time/day.

All families can find our welcome back letter for the 24-25 school year here. We have so many exciting events coming up this month! You can find information on them in the last Astor Connection.

Have a wonderful rest of the summer and we hope to see you at our Warm Welcome on August 26th from 2:30 to 3:30pm!

Warmly,

Blake Robertson
Principal @ Astor

Hello Astor Families!

There are a couple of great events coming up prior to the start of the 23-24 school year that we want you to know about.

Connect to Kindergarten

August 17th from 5:30 to 6:30 - Link with information is here 

Join Astor Staff and other Astor Kindergarten students and families as we visit together prior to the start of the school year. You'll be able to see the kinder classrooms and our Astor PTSO will be there with Portland Goat Parties! Hope to see you there!

Project Community Care Day

August 19th from 9am to 12pm - Link with information is here 

Please join us for Project Community Care Day, an annual tradition and a wonderful opportunity to help beautify our school grounds to be held on Saturday, August 19th, from 9am to 12pm.  We encourage you to bring your gardening gloves and tools and refillable water bottle. Students are welcome to join you and we’ll just ask that you supervise. We look forward to seeing you Saturday, August 19th, 9 am to 12 pm!

Astor’s 3rd Annual Warm Welcome!

August 28th from 4:30pm to 5:30pm - Link with information is here

This event on campus will allow for our students and families to meet, see the entrance that they should come to at the start of each day, and pick up their back to school packets and Middle School schedules and supply lists. Additionally, many of our teachers will be at this event and it's a great time to connect with them prior to the start of the school year. Families may arrive at the school at a time that works for them between 4:30pm and 5:30pm on August 29th.

Our community partner, the Coalition of Black Men, invites boys in grades 6-8 to join their DREAM BIGGER Mentoring Program.

What: This program provides academic support, mentoring, cultural enrichment and personal development to our young men!

When: Begins September 28th 

           Every Tuesday from 1:45 - 2:30 pm 

Where: Room 63 (portable 3)

How do I join?: Scan the QR code on the flyer below or visit https://forms.gle/F3RA3/1Q8ePn2aGV97

Questions?: Contact mentoring@cobmportland.org

HeART of Portland, the annual celebration of local student artists, is returning to the Portland Art Museum (PAM) beginning April 16.

The two-week fine arts showcase features work by students from across Portland Public Schools and is made possible by the Arts Access Fund, which also supports elementary visual and performing arts educators.

2025 HeART of Portland kicks off with an opening reception at PAM on April 16 at 6:30 p.m. and concludes with the Miller Family Free Day on April 27. The opening reception will include musical and theatrical performances, as well as a set from the elementary school honor choir – made up of two singers from each PPS elementary – and the debut of the honor dance collective. 

In addition, the showcase will feature more than 100 works of student visual art, handpicked by PPS arts educators, and a collaborative art project for K-12 students that embraces the rebellious spirit of the current PAM exhibition, Psychedelic Rock Posters and Fashion of the 1960s. 

The reception and HeART of Portland exhibits are free and open to everyone. Please join us in lifting up our student artists!

Portland Public Schools is continuing to host a series of events aimed at starting productive conversations about what is possible in the systems we create for our children with disabilities.

As part of this series, we are excited to welcome you to a free screening of The Ride Ahead on Thursday March 20 at McMenamins Kennedy School. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the movie begins at 7:00.

The Ride Ahead is a film about adult life with disabilities by a man with disabilities. It is the debut of 21-year-old Samuel Habib who, struggling to find his place in the world, decides to make a film that charts how a group of disabled adults navigate challenges and forge their own unique paths. The film serves as a roadmap for himself and others and illustrates the compelling power of one person truly determined to live life on his own terms.

In documenting his journey, Samuel is following in the footsteps of his father, the filmmaker Dan Habib. You can learn more about their work here.

Staff, families, and community members are all invited. Parking is free and McMenamins' full menu is available for ordering. We hope to see you there!

In meteorological terms, Portland’s first big weather event of 2024 was the definition of a perfect storm. Frigid temperatures and high winds combined with snow and ice to bring down tree limbs, close roads, scramble traffic, freeze pipes, and knock out power for tens of thousands of residents.

It was a metaphorical perfect storm for Portland Public Schools as well. Fallen trees cut power to multiple schools and others have suffered water damage from broken pipes. Lack of heat was also a problem, and impassable roads, paired with snowed-in and icy parking lots, made it impossible for buses to run safely. Those same conditions limited how the district’s facilities and operations teams can even assess the scope of the issues, let alone begin working on solutions. And icy sidewalks meant walkers have no safe route to school.

This week could bring similar conditions to the Portland area, and PPS’s School Closure Team is ready to meet the challenge. The team convenes regularly during inclement weather to take all of the above into careful consideration. By now, families are quite familiar with how the district communicates these decisions. What’s perhaps less known is how district leaders arrive at such decisions in the first place. 

As part of our district's focus on events that center belonging, equity, and inclusion, we have been screening a series of films that we hope will challenge our perceptions about what is possible in the systems we create for our children with disabilities.

The next film in the series is “Champions,” which will screen on Saturday February 8th at 2:00 PM at Lincoln High School. This event will also include first-hand testimonials from PPS students.

This movie highlights the journey of a basketball coach who leads a team of players with intellectual disabilities. Through humor and heartfelt moments, the movie emphasizes the strengths, individuality, and value each player brings to the team and how inclusion enriches communities and creates positive, supportive environments.

Staff, families, and community members are all invited. Parking is free and light refreshment will be provided. We hope to see you there!