Rowe PTO News

• 3/21: World Down Syndrome Day
• 3/26: PTO Meeting with Dr. Scallon, 6:00 PM, Rowe Library, Zoom

• 4/1-4/2: Early Dismissal for Spring Conferences (12:00 dismissal)

• 4/5: Rowe Night at the Mariners, 6:00 PM

• 4/12: RoweFest, 1-3:00 PM

• 5/1: PTO Meeting, 6:00 PM, Rowe Library, Zoom

• Rowe Happy Wheels Night, 5-7:00 PM

• 5/5-5/9: Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week (Details to follow)

• 6/11: PTO Meeting with elections, 6:00 PM, Rowe Library, Zoom

Our next PTO meeting will be on Wednesday, March 26th, at 6:00 PM in the Rowe Library and by Zoom. Our guest speaker this month will be Superintendent Ryan Scallon, who will lead a discussion about the “High School for the Future” plan for Portland Public Schools. We will also have an agenda for PTO business. Childcare for school-aged children will be available, and we will have snacks for those attending in person! Please contact Ashley with questions at president@roweschoolpto.org.

Every year on March 21, people all around the world come together to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day by wearing brightly colored, mismatched socks. March 21 is symbolic because people with Down syndrome have 3 copies of their 21st chromosome. Socks were chosen because the karyotype of Down syndrome chromosomes actually looks like mismatched socks!

Rock your socks to show your support for the rights, inclusion, and well-being of people with Down syndrome in our schools, community, and around the world!

Join us for the Mariners Game on Saturday, April 5th, at 6:00 PM. Join other members of the Rowe community by purchasing a ticket to sit in the Rowe section: tickets are $20 per person, and $5 of that goes straight to the PTO. Also, stop by the Rowe Concession stand - a portion of all concession sales goes to the Rowe PTO.

📅 When: Saturday, April 5th at 6:00 PM

📍 Where: Maine Mariners Hockey Game

Rowe Elementary PTO Fundraiser at the Maine Mariners

Save the date: RoweFest (formerly known as SpringFest) will be on Saturday, April 12, from 1-3 pm. This is a way to celebrate the Rowe community with a fun-filled day of games and events. Look for a return of favorites like Bounce Houses, Games, Win a Cake, and the Prize Tent! You may even get a chance to snap a picture with Rocky, Rowe’s official mascot. If you have any questions, please contact Amy Sweeney at amyjosweeney@gmail.com.

Save the Date - Happy Wheels Night: Enjoy a night with the Rowe community at Happy Wheels on Friday, May 2, from 5-7pm. Open to all students, families, staff, and friends. $11 admission, includes skates. A portion of each ticket sold will come back to the PTO so we can say yes to supporting field trips, classroom supplies, student clubs, and more! Happy Wheels is at 3 Chabot St, Westbrook, ME 04092. Contact Molly Hemkens (mollyhemkens@gmail.com) with any questions.

If you or anyone you know works at an organization or business that wants to be a corporate sponsor for this year's RoweFest, please pass their information along to Melanie/Jay at fundraising@roweschoolpto.org. Our corporate sponsors help offset the costs to make RoweFest happen and really make this a community event with lots of fun games to be had. We have a lofty goal and would appreciate any help to get us there.

Get ready for the Rowe PTO 2025 Calendar Raffle! We will be selling raffle tickets starting in April (and at RoweFest!) with drawings happening in May.

We have some great prizes lined up this year and there is still time to donate! If you or any businesses you know would like to contribute to this year’s calendar raffle please email fundraising@roweschoolpto.org.

Is your student heading to Camp Venture this summer at Rowe with Portland Rec? If you might have the space and willingness to help other students attend summer camp by providing them with transportation to or from Camp Venture, please contact Ashley at president@roweschoolpto.org.

YOU are the PTO! If you are interested in becoming more involved in the Rowe community, we encourage you to join the PTO Board! We will be nominating officers at our May 1 PTO meeting, with elections to take place at our June 11 PTO meeting. Please contact Ashley at president@roweschoolpto.org if you would like to learn more about how you can get involved! We expect to have openings on the Board in several roles.

The Rowe PTO encourages families to stay involved in the process and to support a budget that supports the Rowe community. To learn more about the FY2026 budget process, click here for key dates and other information.

If you would like to receive more detailed updates about the budget process and ways to get involved in advocating for Rowe’s needs, please contact Rowe parents Lara Rosen (lara.rosen@gmail.com) and Brittany Peats (brpeats@gmail.com) to opt in to the regular updates they share.

With our first session of after-school enrichment programming now underway, we are excited to be offering a second Spring 2025 enrichment session that will begin after April break! The club offerings for the second session can be found here.

Registration will be open for three days - March 31st, April 1st and April 2nd. An email with the registration link will be sent out once registration is open. As with the first session, if registration totals for any club exceed the number of seats available, spaces will be allocated by a lottery and a waitlist will be maintained for each club. Please keep your eyes open for the registration email!

If you might like to volunteer to run a club in a future session, or if you have any ideas, questions or feedback, please feel free to reach out to the Enrichment Committee at Enrichment@roweschoolpto.org.

Parents are invited to sign up for the Rowe School Directory to connect with other families. This directory is meant for social purposes, such as organizing birthday parties, car pools, and other similar activities. Please be mindful of this when reaching out to other families.

Sign up here to start connecting with fellow parents! For questions or edits, please email vicepresident@roweschoolpto.org.

Support the PTO by joining our monthly giving program and becoming a Rowe Champion! The PTO provides vital funding to our teachers and staff for enrichment programming, field trips, classroom supplies, and school safety projects. As just a few examples, the PTO last year:

• Helped fund the new fence at the school to improve student safety

• Provided Puberty Packs for all 4th Grade Students

• Funded 3d Grade field trip to Portland Ovations and Maine Wildlife Park

• Funded 2d Grade field trip to the Children’s Museum and new books

• Paid for supplies for 1st Grade classes to raise chicks and build bird curriculum

• Sponsored the Kindergarten Passamoquody guest speaker

Please consider giving $10 per month for each student you have at Rowe, and, if you have the capacity, please consider giving an extra $10 to support another student. Become a Rowe Champion today!

The PTO is sharing the following information; note this is NOT an event sponsored by or affiliated with the Rowe PTO, Portland Public Schools, or Rowe Elementary School

In this six-session workshop, learn alongside other parents/caregivers as we discuss key tools to support our kiddos’ gender and identity journeys. We'll also try out strategies to connect with and celebrate our kids, all the while laying the foundation for a lasting and loving relationship. We will ground our discussion in Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids: How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting, by Dr. Laura Markham -- as well as in our successes, struggles, and lived experiences.

Sign up here: bit.ly/supportqueerkids

This group is for you if:

• you want to build vulnerable and loving community with other parents/caregivers of queer, questioning, or gender-creative young people;

• you want to learn more about gender and how to best support your child's gender or identity journey; and

• you want to learn some key parenting skills grounded in neuroscience research and childhood development.

Have more questions about whether this workshop is right for you? Check out the FAQ here or email Lev at Lev.Leviter@gmail.com.

When: Sundays, running for six weeks beginning in March. Exact days and time based on participant availability. Sign up by March 14th.

Where: Equality Community Center at 15 Casco St. in Portland, ME. Space is limited to 15 participants and spots will be filled in the order that payment is received.

Cost: Sliding scale of $150-$450 ($25-$75 per session). We do not want cost to be a barrier so if you need a subsidized spot, please contact kris@mainetransnet.org. Books generously provided by MaineTransNet.

About the facilitator: Lev Leviter trained with Dr. Laura Markham as a parenting coach and educator. They believe that parenting can be profoundly spiritual and healing work. Lev’s style is warm and affirming, informed by their 10+ years of experience as a conflict mediator and coach, facilitator, and full-time parent to two young kiddos. Their approach is also informed by lessons gleaned from their healing journey -- as a disabled, queer/nonbinary, and Jewish person whose ancestors fled from modern-day Poland and Ukraine. Learn more about Lev here.

Check out the Rowe PTO calendar for 2024-2025 here.

The Portland Public Schools News and Calendar for 2024-2025 is here.

Each year we raise approximately $30,000 (about $65 per student) to support classroom supplies, books, field trips, families in need, ad more.

You can help by:

Make a direct donation

Join Rowe Champions by setting up a monthly donation

Buy spirit wear

Use PTO Clynk bags for cans and bottles

Support our fundraisers

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