The Cheetah Coalition #14

Para cualquier otro idioma, utilice el botón "Translate" que se encuentra en esta página.

Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held on Monday and Tuesday next week, with Thanksgiving break on Wednesday through Friday. Have a wonderful holiday!

Dear Parents,

We are excited to host Parent/Teacher Conferences next Monday and Tuesday. If you don't have yours scheduled yet, please reach out to your teacher or the office staff and we can support you.

We ask that after your conference, you take a few moments to complete the Successful Schools Parent Survey. We will have Core Enrichment teachers and other support staff in the foyer ready to assist you with this computer or paper based survey.

Thank you!

Debbie Armendariz

Principal

Atkinson Elementary School

darmenda@pps.net

School Main Number: (503) 916-6333

Today, the office ran out of snacks for students. We would love to start December with a full pantry! If you have extra snacks at home you can spare, bring them during conferences, or order some from our Atkinson Student Snack Wishlist. Growing kids thank you!

We wanted to formally invite you to the "Cápsula de Inmigración" or "Know Your Rights — Immigration" session organized by Adelante Mujeres in collaboration with our legal clinic and ACLU. We know our community has many concerns regarding their rights in this country given the outcome of our election this year and wanted to hold space to address as many questions as possible.

During the session, they will touch base on:

• Basic Immigration Rights

• ACLU - Sanctuary Law

• How to respond to an ICE encounter (work, home, public spaces etc.)

• Explanation of Warrants

• Constitutional Rights

NOTE: this session will be conducted in Spanish

When: Tuesday, November 19

Time: 6–7:30 p.m.

Where: Zoom — Please register for this event using the QR code provided in the flyer from Adelante Mujeres (attached) to get the Zoom meeting link!

Additionally, find our program flyers attached to access FREE Legal Services at our legal clinics in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties:

• Criminal Record Expungement

• Eviction Expungements

• Immigration Screenings

• DACA Renewals

• Tenant Advocacy Letter

• Name and Gender Marker Changes

All schools are required to instruct and drill students on emergency procedures so that the students can respond to an emergency without confusion or panic. In the coming weeks, we will be conducting the following drills at Atkinson:

• Evacuation Drill on Tuesday, December 3

Read more about these drills on the PPS website HERE.

Parents and caregivers, as we head into December, please remember to not walk your student to their classroom when dropping off late or picking up early unless other arrangements have been made in advance. If your child would like to be accompanied to class, come to the office and a staff member will be happy to take them. It is a safety issue for us to have parents in hallways and classrooms without them first getting a Visitor/Volunteer badge from the office. Thank you!

Our lost and found is overflowing! Please come claim your student's items during Parent/Teacher Conferences next week. After that, we will donate everything to the PPS Clothing Center and start December with a cleared rack!

The author that was supposed to visit Atkinson on Friday, November 22 had to cancel due to a family emergency. We will do our best to reschedule if possible for a future date. If you purchased books, we will get those to you soon.

The Successful Schools Survey is an opportunity for families to provide important feedback on their school environments, learning experiences, and sense of well-being and safety at school. Students in grades 4 & 5 will take a version at school. Staff also take the survey.

We value your input and opinions and commit to reviewing the data with our Instructional Leadership Team and School Site Council, but in order to do this, we need a high response rate.

You can complete the Successful Schools Survey online using this link: https://surveys.panoramaed.com/portlandor/fall24family. 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.

A 1st grade Girl Scout troop is helping to collect food for the pantries in the family lounges within OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital in partnership with the Nourish program. The vision of Nourish is that every parent or caregiver of an admitted child at Doernbecher is without hunger, so they can devote full attention to the care of their child. In the last year, Nourish distributed over 50,000 food items, reaching more than 3000 families with children in the hospital. You can learn more about Nourish in this blog article. Please drop off foods that are individually packaged and require only a microwave to prep by Friday, December 6, in the Atkinson school entryway. Check out this list of preferred foods. On Sunday, December 15, the girls will deliver the food up to the hospital and pack bags of groceries for food insecure families to take home from the hospital. Thank you for your support!

Read the latest from the PTA HERE.

Please spread the word about Atkinson Basketball! We're at nine K–2 sign-ups for open gym and 27 for 3rd–5th league play. Last year we were at 40 and 47, respectively. In order for 3rd–5th league play to occur, we need 4 teams of at least 10 players each. We're closely monitoring K–2 participation since it's so much lower than last year and it's a signal of the future of the basketball program. The biggest concern for the K–2 open gym is that no parents have volunteered to run it.

Support our Atkinson community and get involved with this wonderful program! We typically have a nice mix of new and experienced players. This program prioritizes a fun, low-pressure environment that offers something for every skill level. Finally, the $50 donation per player (for 14 weeks of basketball) directly supports the PTA, a win-win!

Player sign-up form: https://forms.gle/yXEEXir6U9zPKg7HA

Volunteer sign-up: K–2, 3rd–5th

• Monday–Tuesday, November 25–26 —Parent Teacher Conferences
• Wednesday–Friday, November 27–29 —Thanksgiving Break, NO SCHOOL

• Wednesday, December 18 — Early Release at 11:50 a.m.

• December 21 — January 5 — Winter Break, NO SCHOOL

• Monday, January 6 — School resumes
• Thursday, January 9 — PTA Meeting in the cafeteria, 6:30 p.m.