Hello all-

You may notice this community news email is a day earlier than usual! I want to make a few dates really clear in people's minds...

The LAST DAY OF SCHOOL is NEXT Wednesday, June 12th!

Field Day is June 11th! Please have your child pack an extra set of clothes as they may get super wet during Field Day:)

5th grade Promotion is June 11th from 6:00-7:00...we hope that ALL 5th graders can be present as we celebrate the end of their time at Vestal and send them off to middle school!

This Friday will be our last Vestal Spirit Day---wear your Vestal gear or blue and yellow!

Next week I will send an final Community News with some reflections on this year and thoughts/hopes/goals for next school year!

Every single teacher I have ever known loves a hand written note as a 'gift' at the end of the year. If you and your child desire, please take a few moments to write a short note to deliver to the teacher on the last day! I promise you those notes will be cherished!

Peace, 

Sabrina Flamoe

sflamoe@pps.net

Hello all and happy Friday!

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us to celebrate our first ever Social Justice Showcase last night! It was wonderful to see so much of the kids hard work and passion across the school from the importance of picking up trash, to imagining the world at peace, to representations of bridges to significant people and places all the way to creating an outdoor classroom AND imagining a student self care center!

We are always learning and realize a few logistics could be improved on (especially sound, technology, and seating) but we feel it was still a great beginning!

Please check out the video we were trying to show last night- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV7Bi56AqQs&feature=youtu.be

Also, if you go to Flying Pie pizza...please thank them for partnering with Vestal to help provide yummy pizza!

Have a wonderful weekend....go Timbers!

Sabrina Flamoe

sflamoe@pps.net

PTA Notes

Vestal Spring Spruce

Vestal welcomes Vestal families and the greater Montavilla Neighborhood community to be a part of our Spring Spruce on Saturday, June 1, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Nancy Murphy, parent volunteer and Vestal's resident artist, has created a beautiful peacock mural to represent Vestal's school community and values. Please put on your artistic hat and help us paint the mural. We recommend wearing old clothes that you don't mind getting paint on and bringing a water bottle. We hope you can join us in this community building experience! 

June 4 PTA Meeting - Volunteers Needed!!!

PTA Elections will take place at the next PTA meeting on Tuesday, June 4 at 8:15am in the Teacher's Lounge and new volunteers are needed! Terms are ending for three of our four PTA board members.  As you know, PTA is responsible for hosting community building activities and raising money to support students and teachers at Vestal.  Open positions include President, Secretary, and Volunteer Coordinator.  Please consider volunteering to help continue this important work!

Hello all...I hope this finds you well and healthy. We have had a couple different viruses hitting many folks at school the past few weeks...I have been hit hard and been out the past two days and I know many of you and your children have been ill,too. I so hope we are all on the collective mend as it is ZERO fun being sick. I truly miss my day starting with high fives from your awesome kids!

Please put next Thursday night from 6-8 on your calendar! It is our first ever Social Justice Night and we will be showcasing the amazing projects your students have been doing throughout the school year  to take local action. We will also be showcasing our Shadow Boxes made with the help of the amazing artist in residence, Nancy Judd. These boxes represent the work of taking local action through an artistic lens. We will also be showcasing our new "Vestal is Socially Just" song, which rocks.

Please come and join us for Pizza and the Showcase!

In summer news, it turns out that Vestal will be getting some work done this summer, which is extensive enough to close the school. Thankfully this will mean asbestos abatement and new windows, which are both great! The drawback is the school will be closed for SUN. BUT good news, SUN is still happening, just at a different location. Please see below:

There's still time to sign up for Summer SUN!

• July 8 - August 1
• Monday through Thursday
• 8:45am-12:30pm
• Bus provided (to Jason Lee because Vestal will be closed)
• Breakfast & Lunch provided
• Free for anyone in Vestal Community
• Info packets are outside of SUN office, or contact Ryan at ryanm@irco.org or 503-438-5119

Alrighty, we so hope you all stay healthy and enjoy these last few weeks of the school year!

Have a terrific long weekend...no school Monday (Memorial Day)

Sabrina Flamoe

sflamoe@pps.net

Hello all and welcome to a Fall feeling Spring Thursday!

Please take note os some important date changes/reminders-

May 23rd- Connect to Kindergarten 9:00-10:00 Tell your neighbors and friends with little ones!

May 27th- No School- Memorial day

May 30th- Please come to our 1st ever Social Justice Showcase Night- Pizza served for dinner!

June 11th- Field Day for K-5

June 11th- 5th Grade Promotion 6-7 (Please note it is Tuesday night!!)

June12th -Last day of school!

Social Justice News-

May 30th will be a celebration of our 1st year as a school focused on Social Justice! Students have been working on local action projects through out the year and they will be showcasing their project! Also, we have had a wonderful artist in residence teaching students how to express their work through shadowboxes. These will also be displayed on May 30th!

This school year, we have been working as a staff to understand the 5 domains of social justice. Next school year we will be focused on teaching the students about the 5 domains of our social justice. They are-

* Academic Engagement

* Individual and Family Identity

* Community Diversity

* Local Action

* Social Justice

Go Blazers!

Sabrina Flamoe

sflamoe@pps.net

PTA NOTES

Vestal Spring Spruce

Due to the forecast for wet weather this weekend, the Spring Spruce is being postponed to Saturday, June 1 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Vestal welcomes Vestal families and the greater Montavilla Neighborhood community to be a part of a mural project on our school playground. Nancy Murphy, parent volunteer and Vestal's resident artist, has created a beautiful peacock mural to represent Vestal's school community and values. Please put your artistic hat on and help us paint the mural. We recommend wearing old clothes that you don't mind getting paint on and bringing a water bottle. We hope you can join us in this community building experience! 

June 4 PTA Meeting - Volunteers Needed!!!

PTA Elections will take place at the next PTA meeting on Tuesday, June 4 at 8:15am in the Teacher's Lounge and new volunteers are needed! Terms are ending for three of our four PTA board members.  As you know, PTA is responsible for hosting community building activities and raising money to support students and teachers at Vestal.  Open positions include President, Secretary, and Volunteer Coordinator.  Please consider volunteering to help continue this important work!

And a big "Thank You" to everyone who volunteered their time to help show our school staff and faculty how much we appreciate them!

The new mascot and nickname for Franklin High School will be Lightning. The process to determine a new identity for the school was finalized Tuesday, when the Portland Public Schools Board of Education unanimously approved Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero’s recommendation.

Dear PPS Community,

We have come to the end of what has been an ambitious and groundbreaking school year at the Portland Public Schools. I want to offer my heartfelt thanks to our amazing students, their supportive families, our dedicated teachers, hardworking support staff and dynamic school and district leaders who made it all work.

This week in PPS Pulse: A full summer of modernization and improvements projects; district launches enrollment and program balancing process

This summer promises to be the biggest of the PPS bond program so far. School modernization and improvement projects will touch almost every school over the coming months with security upgrades, new roofs, asbestos remediation, new fire alarms, ADA improvements and a seismic retrofit in the works.