11/20/24

• 11/20 - ELD Night 6:00-7:00pm
• 11/20 - PTA Meeting, 6:30pm
• 11/21 - RGMS 5th Grade Family Info Night, 6pm
• 11/25-26 Parent Teacher Conferences
• 11/25-29 No School

• Click here for the full RGMS calendar

Hey Hey Robert Gray,

It is the season for gratitude and here at Robert Gray, we are grateful for so many things. We are grateful for our office, custodial and kitchen staff who keep this building running. We are grateful for the teachers who are dedicated to creating engaging learning experiences. We are thankful for our families who partner with us and support their child. But most of all, we are grateful for our students who share their energy, creativity and curiosity with us every day.

Parent Teacher Conferences are next week and we are eager to see our families and report on your child's progress. Use this link to see details on times available for in-person and virtual scheduling options.

in community news, our students receive KACHINGS when they are following school expectations. Students can use the KACHINGS to buy things in our student store on Fridays. Another thing students do is put their KACHINGS into our school raffle. We have raffled off a field trip to the HipHop Nutcracker and for gift cards to Dairy Hill Ice Cream. We have lots of exciting raffles coming up, so encourage your child to enter!

In Community,

Lisa and Robin

November 25 and 26 are Parent Teacher Conferences at RGMS. Use this link to see details on times available for in-person and virtual scheduling options.

Parent teacher conferences on Monday (11/25) and Tuesday (11/26). Conferences are valuable for both the teacher and the parents but do create very long days for our amazing RGMS teachers. The PTA plans to provide the teacher with dinner on Tuesday but it would be really nice to also provide refreshments for them throughout both days. Here’s the link to the Sign-up Genius so together we can stock their teacher’s lounge. Thank you in advance for your contribution!

Buy your yearbook online by using https://ybpay.lifetouch.com/

Using the Yearbook ID code: 14931525

Yearbooks are just $20

For the month of November, Portland Public Schools offers the annual Successful Schools Survey. The Successful Schools Survey is an opportunity for students, staff, and families to provide important feedback on their school environments, learning experiences, and sense of well-being and safety at school.

The survey is conducted once every school year to provide timely information to schools, district leadership, and the community, allowing us to make informed decisions about school climate and culture. This year, the survey window is open November 1 to December 6.

Portland Public Schools highly values the input and opinions of its families, and we welcome all PPS parents and guardians to complete this year’s survey. We use the data to help improve our schools, providing targeted feedback and training on how to create healthy school environments that are welcoming for all.

You can complete the Successful Schools Survey online using the link provided below. Please complete one survey per household. If you have more than one student at PPS, we ask that you complete the survey considering the experiences of your eldest child.

The survey will take approximately 15-30 minutes to complete and is available in English, Spanish, Russian, Somali, Vietnamese and Chinese.

https://surveys.panoramaed.com/portlandor/fall24family

For more information about the Successful Schools Survey, please go to pps.net/sss2024.

See the Well's newsletter for more information: https://secure.smore.com/n/w5z6s

8th Grade Info Night: Benson Tech's Info Night is Weds. Nov. 20th at 6:00 pm. This is the ONLY event we will have where families/students can see the new building before the application deadline.

Benson website: https://www.pps.net/Page/16546

Benson Slide Show:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/163bXtyhvFFdvbY3U2gP7A_oL95Zyt0SdHgxnTL7eb2U/edit#slide=id.p

2024-2025 RGMS Family Handbook.

2024 RGMS Student Handbook

Parent Guide to Canvas

Parent Guide to the Remind App

Parent Guide to ParentVue

Remember to give plenty of time when picking up your student early. It takes them time to get from their classroom to their locker and then to the office. You can call the office, 503 916 5676, when you are on the way to give your student time to get all their things.

Only use ParentVue to report absences that are for the full day. That is all ParentVue will let you do. If your student will be absent part of the day or just tardy, please email grayattend@pps.net. Be sure to include your student's full name, date of absence and the reason for the absence.

All of PPS communications are coming through the REMIND communication system. If you are not getting either emails or texts from Robert Gray or from PPS, please down load the Remind App and check your settings. We have found that some parents may have settings that prevent communications from getting through to families.

As part of Leadership class, the Journalism committee has produce the very first issue of Guess What? a magazine by students, for students. Click here for your copy!

Use this link to the School Nurse and Health Room Services Webpage for lot's of good information for parents.

Interested in having your student tested for COVID at school? Fill out the attached form and return:

• Bring it to the upcoming teacher-parent conferences
• Drop it off in the office
• Email a digital copy to Nurse Jennifer Novack at jnovack@mesd.k12.or.us

The ParentVue trick to not getting your account disabled is to only try passwords twice, then just click on forgot password.

After 3 unsuccessful password tries your account is disabled. When disabled you have to call the school and have the office enable your account. Then to complete the reset, you have to click on forgot password and update your password.

Gray's counselors are Lisa Hyde, A-K & Laureen Held, L-Z.

Lisa Hyde - lhyde@pps.net

503-454-6829

Laureen Held - lheld@pps.net

971-231-4621

You can also contact them through this link: https://bit.ly/2024-25RGMSCounselorHelp

What is School Pay?

Throughout the year we will use School Pay as a way for families to pay for a variety of things. Currently, we are asking families to consider making small donations to offset printing costs for student planners, handbooks, class supplies and other curricular tools.

School Pay is a convenient way to pay school donations with a debit card or credit card. Use this link, https://pps.schoolpay.com/, to enter the School Pay site. Set up an account if you don't already have one.

Donation items are grouped by grade level.

• Our PTA meeting is this evening, Wednesday, November 20th at 6:30pm in the library at RGMS or via Zoom. We hope to see you there! The standing zoom meeting info follows:

• Link to Zoom Meeting

• Meeting ID: 847 8223 9102

• Passcode: 368760

• Please take a minute to add your input about the May 2025 PPS School Bond here. This bond was originally intended for the completion of the high school modernization projects (finish Jefferson, start Cleveland and Ida B. Wells) but now the PPS School board is also considering including deferred maintenance and elementary/middle school improvements (possibly reducing the budget for the high school modernization).

Unfortunately, the reality is that there may not be enough money, manpower, contractors or resources to get everything done in the 8-year timeframe. The questions that remain open are how much debt, over what period of time, and with what priorities to fund?

This information will be used by the Community and Parents for Public Schools board to submit testimony to the PPS School Board.

• If you have been considering upping your recycling game by signing up for Ridwell, please consider doing it now. When 10 families sign up for Ridwell doorstep pickup using the link below by December 15 2024, the school earns plastic film pickup all spring! When 20 join, the school earns a field trip to the Ridwell warehouse! Find out more at https://get.ridwell.com/rgms.

• We are always looking for parents interested in advocating for better funding for public schools to interface with PAT, Oregon PTA and Parents for public schools. Please reach out directly to Kirsten Carr if interested.

• If you’re able, please donate $25 to support our PTA here.

Get text alerts about school closures, delays, emergencies and school events:

Text YES to 68453

Email: lnewlyn@pps.net
Website: https://www.pps.net/gray
Location: 5505 Southwest 23rd Avenue, Portland, OR, USA
Phone: (503) 916-5676
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertgraymiddleschool
Attendance Reporting: grayattend@pps.net