Hi Rider family,

Please click here to view the entire Rider Family News, our weekly newsletter to families.

Hi Riders,

Remember, today is a Gold Day. This means that students are live with their 1st and 2nd period teachers.  

Chromebooks

We just found out that there is a defect in some of the Acer chromebooks that we have distributed to families.  The defect make the chromebook unable to connect to Google Meets.  If your chromebook is unable to connect to Google Meets, please bring it back to the building this week and we will get you a new device.  The district is working on a patch for this issue, but we are unsure how quickly it will be fixed.  You can come to the building on Wednesday from 2 to 5 or on Thursday or Friday (times to be announced once we determine how much need we have for new devices)

Attendance

We appreciate your patience as we work on attendance.  We know it's important that you are getting accurate information about whether your student is engaging in class or not.  More than ever, learning is a team effort this year.  Remind your student to be in live classes each morning and make sure they are completing assignments or other communication for their afternoon classes.  

Diverse Learner Night

Please see the flier sent out about Diverse Learner Night.  It's tonight from 5:30 to 6:30.  There is information about the upcoming Bond, SpEd, ESL, TAG, and Spanish Immersion.  

Thanks for all you do!  We appreciate working with you to support your students during Comprehensive Distance Learning. 

Go Riders!

KD, Dave, and Liz

Hi Rider family,

Please click here to view the entire Rider Family News, our weekly newsletter to families.

Hi Riders,

As we settle into Distance Learning, I want to take a moment to reinforce our racial equity and social justice framework we use as a district and a school.  We left last spring after the killing of George Floyd and we have seen more Black men and women killed by the police, more violence at protests, and more division as a country.  

The grand jury decision yesterday for Breonna Taylor’s killing is weighing heavy on my heart.  Her death was the result of a system that has failed to support members of our community for too long.  

The announcement that the Proud Boys will hold a rally on the site of historic Vanport is weighing on my soul.  Having a hate group who openly supports violence, gather where the largest African American community in Oregon once stood is a reminder to us that that we have more work to do in creating an anti-racist society.  Our district and school are committed to  upholding values of inclusion and social justice, and still we have folks from our community gathering together at Delta Park this weekend to support hate.  These demonstrations affect all of us, but especially our students and families of colors.

The over 100 days of protests in Portland is weighing heavy on my mind.  As our students stand up for justice and practice their first amendment rights, they have been tear gassed along with other protesters through the summer.  These are all reminders that now, more than ever, we need to be focused on racial equity, social justice, and care for our entire community.  

At Roosevelt High School, Black Lives Matter.  We will continue work to better support our Black students and colleagues.  This year, teachers and staff will spend time in our professional learning focusing on how to better connect with and serve our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) students and how to support our BIPOC teachers and staff. 

I stand with, and will support, our students in continuing to voice their concerns about the systemic racism in our Roosevelt High School system and the larger community.  We will continue to empower the Student Equity Council (SEC) to be a voice for our students on issues within our school and larger community.  This group is  instrumental in helping to make our teaching and support staff reflect the diversity of our students.  All summer long, teachers, students, and administrators worked together to interview and hire teachers.  Working with students and watching them ask teacher candidates pointed questions about Black Lives Matter and the school to prison pipeline was the highlight of my summer.  As one student said in the interviews she participated in, “Nothing about us, without us.”  I think about that statement a lot as we revisit the demands our Black students shared during Hoodies Up Day.  Demands for racial justice, and creating a school and a system that addresses the harm done and finds ways to move forward to dismantle the racism we see.

Last spring, we created a video letting our students know how we support them during these times of racial unrest.  I am sharing it with the community again to remind everyone about the commitments we made to our students.  

I support Black Lives.  I support our students and teachers of color, and I support all of our students and staff who are working together to make our school and community less racist and more just.  

I’m so proud of the work our students and staff have done for years to focus on inclusion and issues affecting our school, community, and world.  I’m so proud to be a Rider and serve as your Principal.  

“Nothing can stop the power of a committed and determined people to make a difference in our society.”    ~John Lewis

Go Riders!

Hi Riders,

We hope everyone found time to breathe some fresh air this weekend.  There are a few updates for this week and next week, so we wanted to make sure you marked your calendar for these different activities:

Textbook Pick Up

Students who are Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors can come to get their textbooks (and a few school supplies) this Thursday and Friday from 2:00pm - 5:00pm.  Click here for more information about times for those grade levels. Freshman will be picking up any textbook or supplies next week with Materials distribution (see below).

If art materials are not available this week, they will be here next week (see below).  If your student is in art, and you want to make a donation for the materials, you can do that on School Pay.  

We want to make sure that everyone has some limited school supplies.  Buying 1350 of anything is expensive, and we are happy to make sure everyone has a few pens, pencils, highlighters, and spiral notebooks.  If you want to donate to our general school supplies account, please log in to School Pay and make a donation.  We will use this money to pay for more supplies for all of our students at the beginning of second semester.  

Materials / Supplies Pick Up

We will also have time next week to come and get your textbooks and other materials on Wednesday from 2:00 to 4:00p. Because of the fires and the pandemic, a few of our supplies were on back-order.  If you are in math or art this semester, some of your supplies won't be in until next week.  We will begin to have regular materials pick up times through the month of October. 

Chromebooks and Hotspots

We have chromebooks and students can come to the building each afternoon from 1:00 to 3:00 to get a chromebook.  We are hoping that Hotspots will be available by today (Tuesday) or Wednesday.

Back to School Night

We are going to try a virtual back to school night on Thursday, October 1st.  We will start at 5:30 with a short welcome, and then you will have the chance to visit each of your students' classes and listen to / watch a short video or live google meet about the class.  This is time to learn a bit about your students' teachers and classes.  If you have specific questions or concerns, please reach out to the teacher before or after back to school night.  We will share more information and meeting links in the coming week.  Make sure you have downloaded the Trivory App (or go to trivory.com/roosevelt).  That is where the meeting links will be.  

Crazytown

(That isn't a reference to this year, it's a play our theatre department is putting on).  Join our Roosevelt Alumni Theatre Group for a production of "Crazytown" at 7:00pm on Thursday, October 1st.  You need to buy tickets at www.playscripts.com if you want to attend.  You can see your students' teachers at back to school night and then head to the online production.

Please let us know if you have any questions.  

Hi Riders,

We made it through the first week of school!  It's been great to pop into classes and see students and teachers working together to figure out how to learn in Distance Learning.  Just a couple of updates for everyone today.

Attendance

We are still working on attendance.  You might receive a call with the recording that your student did not participate in class.  Attendance is marked everyday for every class.  Students have all day (midnight to midnight) to connect with teachers, come to live class, or turn in an assignment to be marked present for the day.  This is great for students who have other responsibilities and miss class, but it is definitely more complicated for our teachers.  We are still working on the best way to capture this information.  If you do get the phone call saying your student was absent, you can contact the teacher.  We are finding that often the teacher has already fixed the attendance, but didn't do it in time for the computer to not make the phone call.  Again, we'll be making some changes, and we appreciate your patience as we figure out this new system.

Social Workers

Thanks to everyone who came to the information sessions from our counselors, social workers, and community partners this week.  Our social workers wanted to make sure that all families get more information to let you know about their work and how they can help families. Here is their introduction information  If you have questions or don't know who to connect with, please contact your student's counselor.  

I'm glad the rains have come and the air is clearing up.  We will resume chromebook distribution each day between 1 and 3pm.  If you need a chromebook or a hotspot, we can make that happen next week (hotspots will be available soon - we'll keep you posted).  

Go Riders!

KD

Thanks to all of our families who came to our student support meeting last night!  We appreciate you trying new things with us. We're all going to be so good at technology when this year is over.

Tonight, we're asking our community partners to try something new with us.  We will be having short information sessions about many of our different partner organizations.  You can log in to one, two, or three sessions to get the information you and your family want.  Here are the links and the information sessions.  

Tonight, Thursday, September 17th 6:00pm

Three sessions - 6:00, 6:20, and 6:40. You can click on the links below to go to any of the sessions with any of our partners.

Here are the links for the meetings in English:

Step Up

Latino Network

I Am Academy

School Based Health Clinic

SUN School

Here are the links for the meetings in Spanish:

Step Up

Latino Network

School Based Health Clinic

SUN School

We hope you'll join us for one or more of these information sessions.  Our partners do amazing work, and we love working with each and every one of them.

Go Riders!

KD

--
KD Parman, Ed.D.
Principal
Roosevelt High School

Hi Riders,

It’s been another busy day.  Teachers are really enjoying getting connected with students and families.  Remember, today is our Parent meeting that focuses on supports for students in our building.  Tomorrow’s meeting will be focused on Student Supports from our Community Partners.  Here’s some more information.

Wednesday - Focus is School-Based Supports

School Counselors, Therapists, Social Workers, College/Career Coordinators

6:00pm 

English Meeting Link

Spanish Meeting Link 

We also want to let you know that our Health Center is opening again this week.  This fall, while schools are engaged in distance learning, Roosevelt Student Health Center is open 8:45 am-4:45 pm Monday-Thursday for in-person, phone, or video visits, and 8:45 am-4:45 pm Friday for phone and video appointments only. Call 503-988-3909 to make an appointment. 

• Any Multnomah County K-12 youth can visit the center and there are no out of pocket costs. We also can connect students and their families with community resources for food or help with medical insurance. 
• Student Health Centers at David Douglas & Parkrose high schools are also open. For more information visit https://multco.us/health/student-health-centers. Stay connected via Facebook and Instagram.

Also, mark your calendar.  We will have Back To School Night on Thursday, October 1st from 5:30 to 6:45pm.  More info to come!

Go  Riders!

KD

Hi Riders,

I’m hoping the rains start up soon to help clear this smoke and allow everyone fighting the wildfires a chance to start to contain the flames.  We appreciate your patience and understanding as our staff juggle starting the school year with taking care of family and friends impacted by the fire.  Attached are some resources specifically for immigrant families that have been impacted.  

Tomorrow, we will be hosting our first of two nights of information about student supports.  Here are the links for the google meets.  Please join us to learn more about our staff and partners who work everyday to ensure our students have what they need to learn and thrive.  

Wednesday - Focus is School-Based Supports

School Counselors, Therapists, Social Workers, College/Career Coordinators

6:00pm 

English Meeting Link

Spanish Meeting Link 

Thursday - Focus is Community Partner Supports

Latino Network, I Am Academy, Step Up, IRCO, Trio, Gear Up, SUN School

6:00pm

Links will be included tomorrow

We will also be having a Back To School Night on Thursday, October 1st.  This will be a chance for you to learn more from your student’s teachers about what they will be learning and how you can connect with teachers if you have questions.  Mark your calendar, and we will share more information soon.

Go Riders!

KD

Oregon Wildfires 2020 - Resources for Immigrants and Refugees 09-14.pdf 

Hi Riders,

I hope everyone has found ways to stay out of the smoke these past few days.  Today is the first full day of classes for students.  Please know that some teachers are still struggling with evacuations because of the fires and/or access to internet because the buildings are closed today.  If your teacher cannot attend the live instruction time this morning - your student should be getting an update on Canvas or through their PPS email.   If your family is still impacted by the fires and your student cannot attend class, have them email their teacher and check Canvas for more information.

Gold Day 

Today is our first full day of school.  Here’s the schedule for students today. We are on a regular Monday schedule (which is a Gold Day) today.

Remember - Live is with their teacher. They can get the link to the class in their Canvas account.

SGI - Small Group Instruction.  This could be time for teachers to work with small groups of students

AL - Asynchronous (not live) Learning.  This is time for students to practice what they have been learning in their classes or do some learning on their own.  Teachers are available for part of the period if students have questions.  Have your student check Canvas for more information.

Our Weekly Focus - Supporting Students

This week, we are focusing on supports that we have at Roosevelt to support you and your students.  There are two parent meetings this week to give you some more information.  Here’s the information for these meetings:

Wednesday, September 16th - 6:00pm in English and Spanish 

·        Supports from Roosevelt Staff

o   counselors, social workers, college/career planning, and family therapist 

Thursday, September 17th - 6:00pm in English and Spanish 

·        Supports from our community partners

o   Community Partners will be available to give information and answer questions

We look forward to getting to know your students and you as the year continues.  Our staff have connected with over 1250 students and families in the last 2 weeks.  There are a few more students we need to get up and running.  Please let us know if you need anything. 

Go Riders!

KD