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!

Our 3rd annual all-community Arleta Art & Literacy Night is next Thursday evening from 5:30-7! We hope to see your family. It will be a fun opportunity to celebrate our Arleta students’ beautiful art and writing on our wall displays, to enjoy displays across all classes and parts of our school, do some fun art and literacy activities led by our staff and community, and learn ways to practice and enjoy reading and writing at home. Our Art & Literacy Team has contracted an author (graphic novelist), a clay artist, and a dance troupe: two back-to-back dance performances taking place in the auditorium- paid for with funds raised by previous “runs for the arts” all-school fundraisers. And, there will be free food (thank you, wonderful Arleta PTA!) for all in the cafeteria. Please come! Every family and child’s participation will help make it the most fabulous evening for all that it can be.

Our Arleta *Site Council is hosting a table during dinner in the cafeteria: while waiting for your child to finish eating 😀you can learn how to download the free library app Libby. We hope you’ll also do a short paper survey to help us understand what our families go through and/or might need to get your child to school regularly and on time. Site council is striving to support attendance and on time arrival to help families and teachers be able to teach so students have strong learning outcomes. (When some students miss the start of the day or whole days, teachers have to figure out how to catch those students up, or how to support those students separately, which has challenging impacts for all.) Please look for our table in the cafeteria during dinner, and then after dinner, in the main building near the book exchange.

Another awesome thing our community is doing currently! As I shared a few weeks ago, our projected enrollment for 1st grade next year is not high enough for us to be staffed with two teachers (yet). To help boost awareness of the great school Arleta is, and hopefully inspire families who live in our boundary but are not sending their children to Arleta (yet), a parent created these wonderful 5 different Enrollment Flyers to post all around our school boundary (see this Google map for our boundary and locations of posted flyers). If you know people whose elementary aged children go to a different school you could look for and point the flyers out or even come to the school office to pick a few up to post on wooden utility poles anywhere in our boundary that you think they’d be visible to the right people. The number of teachers we have at Arleta is based on the number of students enrolled at each grade level, and we currently need more rising first graders to join our school community in order to keep two first grade teachers!

See you next Thursday at Art / Literacy Night! Our event begins at 5:30 (dinner will be in the cafeteria).

*Site Council is a group of staff, family, school partners, and the principal working together to increase student learning and enact our school mission. Arleta Mission Statement: At Arleta we are lifelong learners. We learn how to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve problems collaboratively. We learn how to be mindful, empathetic, and resilient community members.

Warmly,

Lisa

Thank you so much for your heartwarming advocacy for our Arleta SUN program. At 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon our Inclusion Committee submitted our Arleta letter to the Portland City Council with 248 signatures! PPS SUN Program Manager Marco Matias said after the listening session last night “It was an incredible thing to see the Arleta community show up and show out for SUN, Raina, and most importantly the Arleta families. It is heart-warming and displays to our city council the importance of this initiative and how valuable it is to our most vulnerable populations.” As our Arleta letter says, we can have more influence when we work together.

Unfortunately, I have an additional budget item. Several weeks ago PPS Principals received “staffing”, an allocation of FTE (full time equivalency, or positions) based on our school enrollment and demographics. PPS must cut $40 million in next year’s budget after $30 million in cuts this year. In addition to *Oregon’s unique funding challenges, a major reason is declining enrollment in PPS, including Arleta (see illustration below for more info).

Our projected student count for next school year is 48 students lower than for this year. Our enrollment per grade level impacts the number of classrooms we’ve been allocated for next year… we have a reduction to just one 1st grade classroom, currently projected with 28 students. The threshold for 1st grade for Title 1 schools is 30.

Just like saving SUN- we have more influence when we work together: please help recruit incoming 1st grade students in our boundary! There are families who live in our school boundary but send their children to schools other than Arleta, for reasons they may be willing to talk over with current families or staff then hopefully, reconsider. If we can get our 1st grade enrollment up over 30 within the next few weeks, our staffing could be reconsidered when PPS re-visits enrollment projections in April. If we can get enrollment up over 30 by August, our staffing could be reconsidered in the days leading up to the start of school. Our community came together a few years ago to increase our 1st grade enrollment in a very similar situation.

The #1 way everyone in our community can support our situation is to listen for families who live within our boundary but don’t (yet) attend Arleta and encourage them to enroll, or to give me or any of our staff or partners a call to talk through any questions and hear about all the reasons we’re a great school!

Here are the other (current) projected classroom counts for next year: Kindergarten: 2 classes, 17 students each. (1st grade: 1 class, 28 students). 2nd grade: 2 classes, 20/21 students each. 3rd grade: 2 classes, 20/21 students each. 4th grade: 2 classes, 17/18 students each. 5th grade: 2 classes, 25/26 students each.

It is hard to believe that the year is quickly flying by and we are already getting ready for next year. At the same time, teachers are creatively and brilliantly engaging your children in meaningful learning…and seeing some excellent student learning outcomes! On April 4th, the first Friday after Spring Break, teachers will be preparing Quarter 3 report cards. Thank you so much for all you bring to our community.

Sincerely,

Lisa

This Black History Month, teachers have been highlighting Black excellence, culture, joy and contributions across classrooms. Through learning from the classroom through to the playground we are striving to learn, reflect and take action toward each person feeling welcome, included and valued in our community. Throughout the year and especially during February, we’re striving to center the experiences and feelings of our Black students so our students feel valued but not put into uncomfortable situations. For example, earlier in the month 2nd grade teachers led their classes to set class rules for talking about race as they began a literacy unit on ways different groups of people have responded to injustices throughout history: 1. Use “I” statements only 2. Stay present even when you feel uncomfortable, and 3. Expect and accept discomfort. Our school counselor’s lessons the past weeks have ranged from helping students notice how our diversity is s strength in problem solving, to lessons on how to respond to hate speech, to understanding institutional racism. We’ll continue seeking and noticing ways to elevate and celebrate the many meaningful, joyful and important contributions Black people among us bring to our daily lives, community and world.

Today one of our kindergarten classes created their own beautiful rendition in the style of Aaron Douglas. a visual artist best known for his murals showcasing social issues. He was an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Kindergartners looked at the different shapes, lines and letters that Douglas used to create his painting. “Hey! That’s a capital W!” “The crown has lots of diamonds in it.” “The nose looks like a triangle!” Following step-by-step instructions, students drew their main character in Sharpie marker, added yellow, green and black crayon resist to the piece and covered it all in black watercolor.

And on the note of Kindergartners! Tonight is our first Incoming Kindergarten “Connect” (Family Information Night). Here’s our flyer (thank you fantastic parent Sadie Bach!) to share with anyone you know who has little ones, or post anywhere you think might catch the eye of families with kindergarten age children. Please spread the word how important it is to register early ...higher enrollment numbers leads to lower class sizes.

Lisa

There have been so many sweet and meaningful moments happening at school this week! Thanks for your sweet kids bringing us smiles, and thanks to our sweet teachers for creating celebrations of friendship and all the ways they’re helping students generate and deepen friendships. Here’s a little melange that illustrates all the ways teachers have been facilitating joy and belonging while maintaining high expectations and depth of learning this week… the 25th week of the school year!

• Ms. Bidney invited families to send pictures of their children, their pets, and snow creations so she could welcome them back with a slide show.

• Kindergartners visited the Holgate Library! They’ve also been learning how to write a letter then created and mailed their own messages to loved ones at the post office box to prepare for their upcoming celebrations of friendship and

• Kindness, they created their own messages (with art!) for loved ones and walked to the Post Office to mail them!

• Teacher Noah’s class is learning about the Haitian Revolution of 1792 in connection with our Haitian Drumming Assembly last week and all 4th graders' current study of the American Revolution.

• 3rd graders are learning about immigration. They are inviting guests who are immigrants to come to speak to their classes about their experiences. (Please contact the office if you know anyone who might like to share with their students!)

• Dolphin parties! Classes earn these by getting complimented for following our schoolwide expectations in our common areas (hallways, cafeteria, playground, bathrooms, and classrooms) 20 times. Ms. Maggie’s class had “Kids in Charge Day”, working as a class to listen to each other's ideas, create a schedule and remain safe through the excitement.

• Ms. Williams’ 3rd grade class earned enough stars for following directions in class to surprise their kindergarten buddies with cupcakes during their lunch in the cafeteria. 💙

• Grinning students giving staff and each other hugs in order to playfully put heart stickers on each other’s backs.

• 1st graders are learning what a syllable is, starting with closed syllables (when the vowel is “closed off” through being followed by a consonant) and why syllable types are important (they help predict the vowel sound which helps children learn to decode).

• 5th graders are learning the process for writing a speech for the purpose of sharing all the content they’ve been learning in their literacy unit called “Breaking Barriers” via the essential question: how can sports influence individuals and societies. They are learning how to sequence ideas, how to find evidence to support their ideas from the text they’ve been reading (We are the Ship) and how to paraphrase other evidence.

• Our school counselors have been and are teaching lessons in all classes on institutional racism, diversity and inclusion.

• Spotlight and Star Students! Students across our classrooms get to take turns sharing about themselves with their classes, and classmates get to learn about each other, gaining appreciation, empathy and having fun.

With appreciation and commitment to your students, our staff and community,

Lisa