Last month we hosted several meetings to prepare students and families to start school in person at Jackson. If you missed one you wanted to attend, no problem!

Welcome to Jackson Orientation

Health and Safety Updates for fall 2021

Greeting families!

We are still preparing for an in-person school year. To be ready for anything, here is the official Jackson Middle School supply list.

Printable Supply Lilst

Students continue to be exposed to tragedy, with additional violence in Georgia and Colorado over the last few weeks. Students may have questions and worries. The links below are designed for difficult and emotionally laden conversations, and they are easily translated to parent-child discussions.

Curiosity and Questions: A presentation (and great dictionary of terms) from the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education

Helping Children Cope with Frightening News, a website from Child Mind Institute

When Bad Things are Happening, an article from Teaching Tolerance

Parent and Caregiver Resources, a toolkit from the ADL

9 Healthy Ways to Communicate, 9 strategies for sustaining and deepening conversation from educator and film maker, Lee Mun Wah

In compliance with the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act, Portland Public Schools must notify families and staff of the existence and location of our Asbestos Management Plan. Please see the accompanying memo:

Annual Notification

Greetings Families and Students!

We are so pleased to welcome you to Jackson for the 2021-22 school year, and there is much to think about as the new year approaches.  Similar to last year, there are plans and protocols to put in place to support student and staff health and wellness, and we don’t have all the answers yet. To stay informed, check email, social media (instagram@jacksonpps),or the web (jacksonpps@pps.net). Live meetings on instagram start Friday August 6 at 9:00 AM.

It is the mission of Jackson Middle School to provide a challenging, college-ready academic program attentive to the unique characteristics of adolescents ages 11 to 14. We strive for an accepting and safe environment that encourages personal expression and growth through Artful Learning. And, we are committed to inspiring every student to become a passionate lifelong learner and a responsible global citizen.

We know many of you have not been to Jackson, and still others haven’t been to Jackson during a “regular” school year. To help with some of the basics we put together a Family Handbook of basic school policies, school and district information, and building procedures, to supplement the information spread across our site. 

The first day of school this year is September 1, 2021. Some years we have held Jump Start for incoming new students prior to the start of school. That didn’t work out this year, so we are holding Jump Start for all 6th graders, 7th graders and “new-to-Jackson” 8th graders on September 1st. Most importantly, your 6th and 7th graders will start and end the day as a normal school day. Our veteran 8th graders will have a 2 hour late start.

 As an intentional part of giving students tools for independence, at Jackson we encourage students to take responsibility for dates and deadlines that impact their learning and/or participation in school activities and programs. Our intentions are to give your student room to grow as they take on these new responsibilities, but this also means you may hear less from classroom teachers than you are used to. You are always welcomed an encouraged to reach out to teachers and ask questions, and we also strongly encourage you to support this effort through utilizing the school website (www.jacksonpps@pps.net)  and making a routine at home to review your students’ assignments, attendance and academic progress through Canvas and on ParentVue, https://parent-portland.cascadetech.org/portland/PXP2_Login.aspx. But, here are some important dates to remember at the start of the school year.

August 20            Anticipated date that Studentvue/Parentvue will be activated

September 1       1st Day of School

September 6       Labor Day (and Rosh Hashanah)

September 22     Picture Day

September 29     Back to School Night 

As mentioned earlier, lots of start of the year information will be released over the next four weeks, and we will continue to share new items in as many formats as possible. I hope you are having a safe, active and relaxing summer and we look forward to seeing each of you in September.

Susan Kosmala, Principal                     

Jackson Middle School

Dear PPS Families and Students,

Thank you, again, for your patience as we work through the bus driver shortage. Please know our team is exploring every option, big and small, to provide the best possible service to our students and families during this challenging time.

Dear PPS families, students and staff,

Beginning next week, families will receive a consent form to opt-in to participate in our free COVID-19 screening testing program, which is a partnership between the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) and PPS. Screening testing provides early detection of COVID-19, even when individuals have no apparent COVID-19-like symptoms. 

Dear PPS Families and Students,

We share your concern about the continuing transmission of COVID-19 in our community and remain deeply committed to keeping our students, families, staff, and community healthy and safe. Portland Public Schools plays a critical role as a partner to county and state health authorities in limiting the spread of COVID-19 in our community. We take seriously our responsibility to monitor and communicate every on-site COVID case we become aware of, so that we too can do our part to limit the spread of the virus by asking students and adults to isolate and/or quarantine^[1] from others.

Tomorrow (September 16), families will receive a brief survey (5-10 minutes) about your students and the COVID-19 vaccination.

In short, we’d like to determine how many of our students (ages 12 and older) are fully vaccinated against the virus and as we anxiously await approval for the COVID-19 vaccine for younger students (age 5 to 11), we’d like to plan for targeted outreach for families to quickly access the vaccine. The information you share will help us prioritize vaccine access and outreach to schools this fall.