Late Opening Wednesday, October 21st
This is the second of this year’s 2 Hour Late Openings, in which all PPS schools were required to participate. At Maplewood, our teachers will be working hard on training on our emphasis on writing. On late opening days, the schedule will just have 2 hours added on to the usual time:
- Bus pick-up times will be two hours later than usual (eg. , if your usual bus time is 7:20, on late openings it will be 9:20.
-Child care arrangements will be discussed with Art4Life, who will communicate with the families who have already signed up with them.
-Kindergartners!: Half-day students come all day and will eat lunch at school, and bus students will go home on the afternoon bus. The PPS website at http://159.191.14.135/.docs/pg/400/rid/11786/f/KindergartenLate_Open_Advisory.pdf discusses effects on Half-day and Full Day kindergarten students
New Cafeteria Policy on Milk Substitutions to start on November 9th
PPS schools must implement a new policy from the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and ODE Child Nutrition (Oregon Department of Education) which states that juice may not be offered as a milk substitute. Currently there is no approved milk substitute available in Oregon. Students will not be required to take milk when they purchase lunch, if they do not drink milk. Students who do not want milk may choose from the other food groups offered to select at least three food groups.
As of November 9th, milk will be the only a la carte beverage sold in the K-5 and K-9 cafeterias. Juice will not be an option at lunch in order to encourage students to limit juice intake and eat more whole fruits as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. There is no limitation on beverages sent from home. Contact Shannon Stember at 503.916.3365 if you have questions.
GRANDPARENTS/SPECIAL FRIENDS - WHEN: Grandparents or special friends can come to Maplewood on Thursday, Oct. 28th . A ceremony will be held starting at 12:30 p.m. in the gym. WHO: Grandparents or Special Friends of your child. Space is limited for the performance and in the room, so it is usual to have one or two people come (but we don’t have room for the “whole family”. WHAT: The student musical performance will be in the gym, and we ask all attendees to stay until the end; after the program in the gym is finished, the adults can go back to the classroom with the students to visit there and see the classrooms; hint: we’ll let our guests all leave school by 2:00 p.m. to avoid the usual traffic jams at the dismissal time at the end of the day. (If you want your child to leave school with someone different than we have on file, or to leave early, we must have a note from you or the hot pink permission slip turned in!) Come enjoy the children, and hear praises for you as their Special Friends or Grandparents! The kids love to see you here!
COSTUME PARADE - FRIDAY, OCT. 31ST - This again will be the day when children can bring costumes to school to wear in an afternoon parade. Students will put on costumes after lunch, and begin the parade at 12:45 p.m. on the playground (in the gym if poor weather). To make this a safe, enjoyable event for everyone, make sure that the costumes are: SAFE (they shouldn’t restrict vision or trip them up; also, absolutely no fake or real weapons should be brought for this school affair) and APPROPRIATE FOR THEIR AGE (no revealing, bloody, or violent costumes) and CONVENIENT (so the student doesn’t have to be stressed about the time limits to get dressed; they will not be allowed to put on costumes until right after lunch).
TAG PARENT INFORMATION SESSION - On Weds. Oct. 28th, from 7:00 to 8:00 at Wilson High School, I will be helping host an informational meeting for parents wanting to learn more about TAG identification and instruction. We will be meeting at Wilson with the parents from all the other Wilson Cluster Schools for a joint meeting, and then we’ll follow this with “bread-out” sessions for each individual school to meet with the Principal and ask more specific questions. Roxanne Coleman, a representative from the district’s TAG office, will be present to offer information and answer questions.
DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIALS TO YOU - It is the policy of the Board of Education to allow organizations that provide educational, athletic or training services or opportunities for children to send information home to students on a schedule established by the school. The Board adopted this policy and the Superintendent has developed an accompanying administrative directive because there is a vast array of excellent community opportunities available to supplement your child’s education, and we want you to be aware of these opportunities.
However, once we decide to allow this type of information to be distributed, state and federal law prohibit Portland Public Schools from restricting certain information based on the viewpoint of the group distributing information. This means that from time to time you may receive materials from a group that holds values that may offend some of our families. You will want to review this material closely to determine if it presents an opportunity in which you want your child to participate.
The organizations providing this information are not endorsed or sponsore6308d by Portland Public Schools. District policy prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, color, creed, disability, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation (BP 1.80.020). Not all outside organizations comply with the District’s non-discrimination policy. Again, families are strongly encouraged to review all materials closely (3.30.038-AD).
Maplewood has made the decision to distribute materials on Fridays.
From time to time, items may be placed on the Community Information Display Area, where items will be available to students and families. Organizations that choose this mode of distribution will have the opportunity to display their items in this designated area for two months.
If you have any questions regarding this policy or the administrative directive (3.30.038-AD), it is available on the web at www.pps.k12.or.us (click Board of Education, then Policies). You may also contact our office at 503-916-6308.
CONFERENCE SCHEDULING OR RE-SCHEDULING – I have become worried again this year that an unusually high number of parents may have scheduled family vacations during the days that school is cancelled for parent/teacher conferences and Thanksgiving Holiday Nov. 24 through Nov. 29th. I have requested that if a conference is not held that week due to family vacation plans:
• that the conference not be re-scheduled, but
• that any conference information be sent home after the conference week for parents’ information.
My concern is that re-scheduled conferences take more teacher time, which affect teachers’ planning time (the time that they use for valuable curriculum and lesson planning that affects all students). If the conference can’t be held for unavoidable reasons, please contact the teacher for re-scheduling; however, if it is for avoidable reasons such as vacations, please do not request a different meeting time.
Also, because of the high numbers of students here, and the decrease in time allotted by our PPS calendar, I’m also asking that conferences with divorced/separated parents be held when both parents can attend at the same time. It helps with healthy communication to have both parents discuss the child with the teacher together.
LOST AND FOUND - We are setting a record for number of clothing items that are “lost” and then put in our “Found” area (at the top of the cafeteria stairs near the Kindergarten room in 101). It is a huge pile, and usually if filled with clothes that the kids forget somewhere, and with clothes that don’t have any name written on them anywhere. I would strongly suggest that you put your child’s name on the clothing somewhere (on the label, e.g.); also, please make sure you or your child check there for any lost clothing items.
