Bulldog Bulletin 09.04.24

It’s Getting Hot In Here

With the warmer weather in our forecast we will continue to proactively cool down the building early each morning by opening windows and placing heavy-duty fans in the hallways to better circulate the air, especially upstairs where it can get fairly warm in some classrooms. Our teachers and I will be working together to keep track of indoor temperatures throughout the week and I will be communicating with district leaders as needed.

PPS Chief of Schools, Dr. Jon Franco, shared with principals that their team is meeting at 4:00 PM today to discuss potential next steps for tomorrow and Friday’s forecast.

Please be sure you are signed up for Remind, which is PPS’s new communication tool. This is also how Richmond will be sending out communications to families throughout the year.

Upcoming September Emergency Drills

On September 10th our students will practice their first fire evacuation drill. I always announce on the intercom that it is only a drill to ensure that students understand we are safe. During a fire evacuation, all classes exit to our field. Our goal is to clear out the building in under 4 minutes. Last year we were really great at this!

On September 11th our students will practice an emergency evacuation from a school bus. This is an annual bus drill that PPS provides to each school. Even if your child is not a regular bus-rider, they may ride one in the future for a field trip, so it’s important that all students receive this information.

Student Health & Wellness

Our School Health Assistant, Toby Barrow, needs your support in keeping sick kids at home to minimize the spread of germs this year. Use this handout to know when your child may need to stay home for health and safety reasons.

If a student tests positive for COVID, it no longer needs to be reported to/by the school. However, it is still strongly recommended that an individual who tests positive wear a mask (e.g. KN95 mask) for 10 days after the onset of symptoms.

At Richmond, we were able to add a second air filter into each classroom to increase the air quality at our school. However, the best way to keep everyone in our community safe is if students and staff remain home until they are symptom-free and safe to return to school.

3rd-5th Grade Social-Emotional Learning

Our 3rd, 4th & 5th graders are considered our “big kids” in the upstairs classrooms, and our younger students tend to look up to them, so it is important that we teach and guide them to be positive role models for our kinder-2nd grade students.

This week between Tuesday and Thursday I will be visiting each 3rd-5th grade classroom to discuss the following topics on school safety and student wellness:

3rd grade: Reporting vs Tattling - The importance of notifying a staff member

4th grade: Intro to Title IX - Gender discrimination, sexual harassment & LGBTQIA+ issues

5th grade: Revisiting Title IX - Preventing the spread of harmful behaviors at Richmond

Parents & caretakers, we need your support in reinforcing these concepts at home so that our students see us as a team. Please review the following key points at home with your 3rd-5th grader.

3rd grade: When we see something unsafe, unkind, or inappropriate, we must respond by 1) interrupting it if it feels safe to do so, and/or 2) immediately reporting it to a staff member. When we passively ignore inappropriate behavior, we allow it to spread and cause more harm. Richmond is our school and we deserve to feel safe here. Reporting is never tattling.

4th & 5th grade: Linked here are the Title IX slides for families from last school year. This is a great resource for parents & caretakers. Our School Climate Handbook & Plan includes on page 7 examples of what Title IX violations may look like at the elementary level.

In 4th grade we are also discussing the importance of being responsible for the slang terms we hear, learn and use around others. Many students at this age simply repeat what they hear, but they don’t always understand what it means.

Remind your child that when someone wants you to repeat a word, phrase, or joke they don’t understand, 99.9% of the time it’s something inappropriate. Encourage them to ask you about those words at home to keep an open dialogue between you and your child as they gear up for middle school over the next couple of years.

Picture Day is Wednesday, September 18th

Picture day information, online ordering, and the customer advocate team are all at your fingertips. Visit mydorian.com, search for Richmond Elementary - Portland, OR, and click on the green Order button or yellow Help button associated with our picture day. You can order online now and for up to four (4) days after picture day. Alternatively to online ordering, picture day order forms will be going home with your student early next week. If you miss picture day, we will have a Retake Day on Thursday, Nov. 7th. ***Note: class composites will not be complimentary this year. If you would like one, please include it in your order.

HELPFUL LINKS
School Webpage HERE
District Student Handbook
School Supplies Online Payment
Google Dismissal and Dismissal Changes Form
Want to Volunteer?
Fliers approved for distribution
Richmond Calendar

The Richmond Elementary School PTA’s mission is to enrich each child’s educational experience and to advocate for the education, health, safety, and wellbeing of all children through PTA programs, events, classroom and teacher support, and PPS community participation.

Become a PTA member!
By becoming a member, you’ll be contributing to the PTA’s goals and events. You’ll also get to vote in the PTA general meeting. Help us meet our goal of 100 members! Click on this LINK to register. Memberships expire after one year, so if you were previously a member, please sign up for this current year!

PTA Communications
Konstella: Keep up to date on all things PTA by joining Konstella, Richmond PTA’s communications tool. By joining, you will receive regular updates and info, gain access to our events calendar, take advantage of easy volunteer sign-ups and more. Click on this LINK (must be done on a web browser, not on the app), click “find your school”, and follow the instructions. There is a tutorial at this LINK.

New students and old, don’t forget to add and/or update your child(ren) to their classroom(s)! Some of them are not always migrated from the previous year! There is a tutorial at this LINK.

Facebook: The Richmond JDLI Community Facebook page is a friendly forum for the entire Richmond School Community and a great place to connect. There is a JDLI page for the entire Richmond Community and one for each individual graduating class. Just search the year of your child’s graduating class and ask to join.

PTA Website: General information on the Richmond PTA can be found at the following LINK, including upcoming general information, events & calendars, ways to support, and forms.

After School Activities

The current list of after school activities can be found at this LINK.

2024-2025 Volunteer Opportunities
You are invited to join the incredible community of Richmond!
Richmond’s PTA is looking forward to continuing to build community, encourage family engagement, and support our teachers and staff this school year, and is in need of volunteers like you to help make it all happen! Just a few of several upcoming volunteer opportunities are listed below - stay tuned for more!

• Classroom Support Co-Chair: This is a position that would be working alongside somebody who is already experienced in the position! This individual helps organize classroom representative volunteers to provide support to teachers. This role works in the background to support families in supporting the amazing educators who teach our children every day. Coordinate the teacher potluck, card-writing, grade level contributions to the Oya No Kai auction, and more! This person is a member of the PTA board and a critical support to making many of our wonderful annual events happen! Please email stoner.jennifer@gmail.com to express interest!

• Super Green Team: Super Green Team helps tend the school garden areas including the front of the school, learning garden, nature path, and Elm trees. SGT also helps with lunch time composting and various recycling drives throughout the year along with an awesome spring plant sale. If you have an interest in any of the above things and can lend some time, we’d love to have your help! Email us at greenteamrichmond@gmail.com or through Konstella and say Hello!

• Equity: All are invited to join the Equity group. If you would like to participate email richmondequitypdx@gmail.com.

• Volunteer to help at lunch time! We’re looking for Richmond parents to help in the cafeteria during lunch hours. The time is split into two 1-hour shifts. You may sign up for both shifts. Volunteers will assist students with a variety of things (opening items, cleaning spills, etc), help students separate compost/trash, and help custodians with setup and cleanup. Thanks to you, we’re able to keep our lunch compost program going as well as help staff with lunch turnaround! Look out for sign-ups on Konstella soon!

• Sign up to volunteer as a classroom representative! Would you like to be more involved in your student’s school activities, meet and organize other families, and help support their teacher with tasks big and small? Then you might want to be a Class Rep! Get more information, or sign up to be part of the PTA team that represents your student’s homeroom on Konstella here, or email stoner.jennifer@gmail.com. Your help and participation is MUCH appreciated!!

• Website Maintenance: We are also looking for somebody who has experience managing websites to help update and maintain the PTA website. Please contact richmondptapdx@gmail.com for more information.

*********You MUST be an approved PPS volunteer to volunteer at Richmond!*********

Apply for approval here. Once you have submitted your application, you may email Kirstin at the Richmond front desk at KBill@pps.net, and she can have your application expedited.