• School News to Know (NEW)
• Upcoming Dates
• Websites to Know
• Teote Valentine’s Day Fundraiser (NEW)
• Girls on the Run - Registration Open (NEW)
• Spare Clothes for Students (NEW)
• Successful Schools Survey (NEW)
• PPS immunization deadline is February 19
• Anti-Racist Reading and Resources (NEW)
• News from SESPTSA (NEW)

Good afternoon, SES community.

We have no new news to report at this time.

Enjoy the 3-day weekend,
Amy and Alix 

Check the district online calendar here.

• SESPTSA
• Sunnyside School Page
• Volunteer Background Check

Teote is sponsoring a fundraising event at the Teote Mezcaleria (2700 NE Alberta) for Valentine's Day, Friday 2/14 from 6:00-10:00. The $50 ticket price includes full buffet dinner, one drink token, mezcal sampling, and dessert. Join your fellow SES parents for a fun and delicious night to raise money for the SES Go Fund. Only 50 tickets will be sold! Music, food, drink, fun. This is a 21+ event, kiddos will have to stay at home. You can purchase tickets online. Thank you to Teote and our community for supporting the SES GO Fund.

Girls on the Run is coming to SES! We’ll have two teams: one for 3rd – 5th graders and one for middle schoolers. Register your girl for this 10-week program that combines training for a 5K (3.1 miles) with lessons that inspire girls to become independent thinkers, enhance their problem-solving skills, and make healthy choices. Practice is 90 minutes twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5:00 pm starting the week of March 2nd and ending the week of May 18th. Learn more and register at www.girlsontherunpdx.org.

As we approach wetter, muddier weather, we want to remind families, especially of our younger students, that the office does not provide spare clothes unless it is a medical or bathroom need. If you are able, please send your student with a spare change of clothes and/or rain boots.

News from the district: What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the phrase “successful schools?” We want to hear your thoughts. The survey will cover topics on sense of belonging, school safety, school climate, barriers to family engagement, as well as how students are thinking and feeling about diversity, equity, and inclusion in school. The current launch date is set for January 27th, the student window is scheduled to be open until February 14th and the family survey until February 28th. Stay tuned for further information! 

Per Oregon law, children whose immunization records are not current by February 19, 2020 will not be able to attend school until their information is up to date. Letters for students facing upcoming school exclusions were already sent by MESD in the fall. If you have any questions or need to follow up on an MESD letter, contact our School Health Assistant Amy Liber at aliber@mesd.k12.or.us.

If your student is receiving the DTaP series, please be aware that the TDaP booster is given at the age of 12. Linked here is information for the MESD student health centers where students can receive health care and immunizations at no cost to you: English | Spanish

If you are opting out of immunizations doses, please provide either a PCP certificate or the completed vaccine educational module for the shots you are opting out of by going here.

Please check here for any new information from our incredibly supportive PTSA! 

And check back often for updates!

 

 

Thank you to all the families that attended one of our Middle School Info Sessions. We hope that you learned something about our middle school program. If you would like to review information from the presentations, you can follow the link below to the slideshow.

 

We have rescheduled our Wednesday, February 19th 9:00-10:00am Open House. It will now occur on Friday, February 21st at 9:00-10:00am. 

To our 5th grade families,

This year PPS has moved up the middle/high school lottery window significantly—it opens next week and closes in early December. You will be receiving a letter from PPS in the next few days; please disregard the Sunnyside Middle School info session dates that are listed in that mailing. Our sessions are at 9 am on Thursday, November 21 and at 6:30 pm on Thursday, November 21 here at Sunnyside. We have added the updated dates to our school calendar and website.

If you are a current Sunnyside family PPS policy ensures that your child stay at Sunnyside through the highest grade of middle school regardless of your address, as long as you live within PPS district boundaries (not in Gresham or Beaverton, for example). If this is the case for your family, you do not need to participate in the school choice lottery if you're continuing into 6th grade at our school. If you are interested in a different school for middle school, PPS will be advertising the info nights for all of the middle schools who have open lottery slots. In most cases, if you are looking to change schools you would need to go through the lottery process. This is true even for schools where you live in the boundary. As an example, if you live in Mt. Tabor's boundary area and are looking to go there for middle school, if you're currently enrolled here the district assumes you are enrolled through 8th grade. If your address is in Tabor's boundary, you are guaranteed enrollment there but only if you go through the lottery process to declare that change. The same is true for families who live in our neighborhood and are leaving another program to come here as 6th graders—they must declare their intention through the lottery process so we can accurately plan for staffing.

As principal I do believe it is important to attend this session if you're able, even if your child has been at Sunnyside for elementary school. Middle school is very different than K-5, and l believe that learning about our middle school program is valuable for our students and for families. I do realize that it feels as if 5th grade has just begun and these meetings feel early! PPS has shifted the timeline to try to improve staffing and support processes for schools across the district.

Thank you and I hope to see you on the 21st.

—Amy Kleiner