Sellwood Principal’s Newsletter – November 20, 2020

Greetings Sellwood Community,

It is hard to believe we have already reached Parent-Teacher Conferences and Thanksgiving Break.  I don’t know about you, but I feel that time has been strangely warped since last March.  But here we are J

I hope that conferences will provide a good opportunity for you to connect with your child’s teachers.  Most parents that plan to come have already signed up, but I want to make sure that everyone has the information on how to sign-up in case you still need to. 

PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES

Dear Sellwood families and students,

I would like to begin by sharing our message of support for Sellwood families and students.  During this challenging time as we cope with a surging pandemic, Sellwood teachers and administration acknowledge the important role of parents in distance learning along with all the added stressors placed on families.  In this time of national trauma, we are all in this together, doing the best we can.  We are very grateful for your efforts and partnership.

Sellwood will be conducting virtual parent-teacher conferences on November 23^rd and 24^th, between 8:30 AM and 7:30 PM.

The schedule for each day will be:

• 8:30AM-12:30PM
• 1PM-5PM
• 6PM-7:30PM

Virtual time slots will be 10 minutes long, and they will be a great opportunity for you to connect with your child’s teacher.  Here are some tips to get the most out of Parent-Teacher Conferences.

1. First and foremost, have your child attend the conference with you, if at all possible. 
2. Check your computer equipment ahead of time, making sure your camera and microphone work.
3. The conferences are only 10 minutes, scheduled back-to-back, so be sure to be on time for your appointment.
4. Before conferences, review assignments, feedback, and grades in your child’s Canvas courses.  Here is a link to instructions for getting observer access to Canvas.  You can also just have your child log on and review the courses directly.
5. Think about what you are hoping to get out of conferences.  Is your priority to find out how your child is doing in the class, to find out how you can support their learning, or to learn more about the requirements and learning activities planned?  Let the teacher know what you are hoping to get out of conferences. 

Below I have shared the sign-up sheet with links, along with a video demo on how to sign up so that you can get started.

Here is the Parent Teacher Conference signup sheet with links to teachers’ calendars.  SIGN-UP SHEET WITH LINKS

Here is the video demonstration for signing up.  VIDEO DEMO

Sellwood Principal’s Newsletter – November 13, 2020

Greetings Sellwood Community,

I hope the first quarter is off to a good start.  Parent-Teacher Conferences are quickly approaching.  I included the signup information in last week’s parent newsletter, and sent an email to all parents and students, but I will also include it here.  If you happen to speak to someone who has not received the sign-up information and is not receiving these weekly newsletters, please have them write me at jcarbone@pps.net.

PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES

Dear Sellwood families and students,

I would like to begin by sharing our message of support for Sellwood families and students.  During this challenging time as we cope with a surging pandemic, Sellwood teachers and administration acknowledge the important role of parents in distance learning along with all the added stressors placed on families.  In this time of national trauma, we are all in this together, doing the best we can.  We are very grateful for your efforts and partnership.

Sellwood will be conducting virtual parent-teacher conferences on November 23^rd and 24^th, between 8:30 AM and 7:30 PM.

The schedule for each day will be:

• 8:30AM-12:30PM
• 1PM-5PM
• 6PM-7:30PM

Virtual time slots will be 10 minutes long, and they will be a great opportunity for you to connect with your child’s teacher.  Here are some tips to get the most out of Parent-Teacher Conferences.

1. First and foremost, have your child attend the conference with you, if at all possible. 
2. Check your computer equipment ahead of time, making sure your camera and microphone work.
3. The conferences are only 10 minutes, scheduled back-to-back, so be sure to be on time for your appointment.
4. Before conferences, review assignments, feedback, and grades in your child’s Canvas courses.  Here is a link to instructions for getting observer access to Canvas.  You can also just have your child log on and review the courses directly.
5. Think about what you are hoping to get out of conferences.  Is your priority to find out how your child is doing in the class, to find out how you can support their learning, or to learn more about the requirements and learning activities planned?  Let the teacher know what you are hoping to get out of conferences. 

Below I have shared the sign-up sheet with links, along with a video demo on how to sign up so that you can get started.

Here is the Parent Teacher Conference signup sheet with links to teachers’ calendars.  SIGN-UP SHEET WITH LINKS

Here is the video demonstration for signing up.  VIDEO DEMO

I wish you a great weekend.

Sincerely,

Jeandré Carbone

Sellwood MS Principal

jcarbone@pps.net

Sellwood Principal’s Newsletter – November 6, 2020

Greetings Sellwood Community,

I hope you are all well.  With the elections this week many of us are feeling a bit exhausted, and as I type this we still do not have a winner declared for the Presidential election.  I hope we have some closure soon.

Thanks to all of you who completed our first quarter distance learning parent survey (by grade level).  If you haven’t taken it yet, we would love to get your feedback.  Students will be taking surveys designed for them soon.  Here are the links:

6^th-grade Parent Survey

7^th-grade Parent Survey

8^th-grade Parent Survey

Monday will be the first day of the second quarter.  Students who finished one quarter classes such as health or PE will have a new class on Monday.  If students need a reminder on how to check their schedules, I am sharing the video instructions again.  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vkNol9Jdr0jO-5Zmq31BiSYbVboGd0h_/view?usp=sharing.  

I wish you a great weekend.

Sincerely,

Jeandré Carbone

Sellwood MS Principal

jcarbone@pps.net

Sellwood Principal’s Newsletter – October 30, 2020

Greetings Sellwood Community,

I wish you all a happy and safe Halloween this Saturday.   Clocks will also be set back Saturday night due the end of Daylight Savings Time, so we will enjoy an extra hour of Halloween!

As you know, general elections will be held next Tuesday, November 3^rd. Many are predicting post-election civil unrest in Portland, regardless of the election’s outcome.  I plan to stay close to home election night and the day after, monitoring the news and my surroundings.  Please be careful and stay aware of what is happening around the city. 

I wanted to remind families about the Sellwood Middle School Foundation’s annual fundraiser; you can find out how to donate on this page.  https://www.sellwoodmiddlefoundation.org/donate.  The Sellwood Foundation raises money to hire more teachers!  This year, Foundation funds are helping to pay for French and Technology electives, so we are very grateful for that support!  Here is a link to an awesome video that was made for the foundation by Ms. Souther’s Publications class. https://youtu.be/jgM_s9zO4Us

Finally, I wanted to let you know that rather than continue with Coffee with the Principal, which in my opinion does not work as well virtually, I am starting to schedule office hours featuring 15 minute individual appointments.  This is still in the experimental phase, and I have not landed on any one specific time of day or date.  There will likely be a morning opportunity, and afternoon opportunity, and an evening opportunity.  Right now I am just trying out the technology.  The sign-up system I am using is exactly the same as the one we will use for parent teacher conferences, so this is kind of a practice to see how it works and to do some troubleshooting.  Please see below, after the Important Dates to Remember section.

Sincerely,

Jeandré Carbone

Sellwood MS Principal

jcarbone@pps.net

Dear Families of PPS Secondary Students,

During Comprehensive Distance Learning, opportunities are built into the schedule for all families to be able to connect with teachers during office hours. As in a traditionally formatted year, we will also be offering Parent-Teacher Conferences (morning to evening) on November 23-24. 

Dear PPS Families and Staff,

Earlier today Governor Brown announced that the State of Oregon is relaxing the criteria and thresholds for schools to re-open to in-person instruction, starting with hybrid models that combine distance learning and on-campus learning.

Dear PPS Families,

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant decline in children accessing preventative medical services such as vaccines and well child checks. We’re happy to announce that we have re-opened two of PPS’ school-based health centers to provide access to medical services for students while the district continues to hold classes remotely. School-based health centers offer quality, affordable health care by doctors and Family Nurse Practitioners for children and youth with no out of pocket cost.

Dear PPS Families,

We want to update you on the Enrollment and Program Balancing (EPB) progress. As we’ve shared, the initial work focuses on schools in Southeast Portland in anticipation of the reopening of Kellogg Middle School. The Southeast Guiding Coalition has held six meetings aimed at creating a common understanding of the Coalition’s charge and the process for developing proposals and a final recommendation. The process is starting with a focus on grades 6-8 now, and will expand to grades PK-12 next spring.