Mark your calendar for these upcoming dates:
May 16 - IBW Comprehensive Plan Open House
May 16 - Deadline to apply for the Ida B. Wells Design Advisory Group
May 27 - Memorial Day Holiday
May 29-30 - Senior Finals
May 31 - Seniors Last Day of School
June 3 - 2024 Graduation
June 5 - Community Equity Council Meeting
June 12-14 Finals for 9th-11th graders
June 14 - Last day of School for all Students
June 18 - Last day of School for Teachers
June 19 - Juneteenth Holiday
June 20 - Last day of School for Classified Staff
June 24 - Summer Office Hours begin
Please see these other newsletters and calendars for more important dates and information!
Student News, May 13 https://secure.smore.com/n/1kq0x
IBW Athletics Weekly May 13 https://secure.smore.com/n/c19nk
Senior News, May 7: https://se:cure.smore.com/n/eaj2xv
The Trivory Calendar: https://dash.trivory.com/calendar?school=ibw
PPS 2024-2025 School Year Calendar
Mark your calendars now for our 2024-25 Back to School Business Days. The times are TBD. These are the days we set aside for our currently enrolled students to come in and take their school photo, receive their StudentID Card/Bus Pass, receive their schedule, etc. This is not registration for new students. Please follow these directions if you are newly enrolling https://www.pps.net/Page/10109
August 19 - Freshmen
August 20 - Sophomores and Juniors
August 21- Seniors
August 27 - Make Up Day for all grades
Spring Concessions
We need lots of volunteers for spring concessions to finish strong! As of now we need help on May 16 for Lacrosse and May 31 for the flag football jamboree. Grab a shift here. Students can volunteer in the Snack shacks with an adult volunteer. Click here to volunteer.
Senior BBQ
We still need some help with cleanup for the senior BBQ on May 31, please sign up here: https://signup.com/go/oTvHdGS
Seeking Board Member for 2024-25 School Year
We are currently seeking a volunteer to lead the Scrip Fundraiser for the Booster Club in a board member capacity. This role will largely be marketing and networking for scrip as there is already a dedicated volunteer who does all the ordering and distribution. Please reach out to Kirsten Carr kirstenc@ibwboosterclub.org to discuss details if you are interested.
Buy A Brick to support Ida B. Wells High School
Leave your legacy with the purchase of a personalized, engraved brick installed by the Ida B. Wells Boosters in the Stadium Plaza. Proceeds will be used to benefit students in the Ida B. Wells sports and clubs. A brick makes a great graduation gift, memorial, or tribute!
4"x 8" Brick $100
8"x 8" Brick $250
https://www.bricksrus.com/donorsite/ibwboosterclub
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Despite losing over a month to the teacher strike and a snowstorm, the Ida B. Wells yearbook staff worked hard and met their final deadline; normally, this ensures the arrival of yearbooks before the senior’s last week of school. Unfortunately, yesterday morning I received news (see below my message) from my yearbook representative at Balfour that, through no fault of our yearbook staff, we will not be receiving our yearbooks until after the school year ends.
If you already purchased a yearbook, we will have an autograph insert that students can pick up and get signed to later affix into their yearbook. I’m hoping to receive these sometime early next week and will send out a message as soon as I do with pickup instructions. If your student would like an autograph page but has not yet ordered a yearbook, they are still available for pre-order on SchoolPay while supplies last.
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email me at khigbee@pps.net, and I will try to answer them as best as I can. If you’d like more information, please see the messages below from both Balfour’s yearbook representative and account executive.
Keith Higbee
Ida B. Wells Yearbook Adviser
From our Balfour yearbook representative
This is not an update I thought I would ever have to send. I am beyond sorry to say that at the end of last week I found out that every single book I have was going to be delivered late and most not before the last day of the school year. Not because of anything that you did or I did, but solely because of Balfour and production issues they have had.
From our Balfour account executive
We have recently received notice from the Balfour plant that they are experiencing manufacturing challenges that have caused the yearbook ship dates to be delayed. I’m sorry to have to give you the news that Balfour is no longer on track to meet your original ship date and that the yearbooks will be delivered this summer. Your current ship date window is 06/13 — 06/20, which I estimate would mean arrival at the school sometime between 06/27 — 07/08. The transition of facilities presented huge unanticipated challenges – moving, installing and optimizing the equipment; the learning curve of training and staffing employees that couldn’t be done until after the equipment was all in place; addressing early quality issues; and refining a new shipping procedure. Early reports that we received from the plant after your final submission indicated that your project was on track for a much earlier delivery date, but Balfour experienced delays and had to reforecast the ship dates. There was a first-year learning curve and many hard lessons learned, and I deeply regret that those came at the expense of your school community.
We have an important announcement regarding a change in how we distribute report cards. Due to significant budget cuts, the print shop at the district is closing its doors. As a result, our school will need to print and mail report cards, incurring substantial costs.
To help mitigate these expenses and streamline our processes, we're offering the option to receive report cards electronically through ParentVue. By opting in to paperless report cards, you not only help reduce our environmental footprint but also assist in preserving vital school funds for other educational needs.
Please note that for paperless report cards to be effective, both parents must opt in. If only one parent opts in, a paper copy will still be mailed to your home.
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation during this transition. Together, we can make a positive impact on both our school's finances and the environment.
To learn how to opt in please click this link.
Ida B. Wells families - we'd love your feedback. Please take a few minutes and fill out this survey.
Families will select your site from the drop-down list at the following URL. Families with more than one student can respond for their eldest student or take the survey more than once. https://surveys.panoramaed.com/portlandor/familyspring24/surveys
The Grauer Project is a back-to-school event giving out backpacks, school supplies, coats, shoes, socks, and shirts to roughly 300 Southwest Portland students each year. These items are provided to students Kindergarten to 12th grade in the Ida B. Wells cluster school district that are eligible for free and reduced lunch.
Over the last 22 years, we have provided these items on the second Saturday of August. This year’s back-to-school event will be Saturday, August 10, at St. Luke Lutheran Church. New this year, the event registration will open online on Tuesday, May 14, at 8:00 a.m. Families and students can schedule their back-to-school shopping appointments in advance by using this pre-registration link and selecting a time slot that works for them. Availability is limited per time slot. Pre-registration is not required but encouraged.
Sincerely,
Grauer Project Committee
We are pleased to report that the Black COVID-19 Strategy Workgroup at OHA plans to hold a town hall for parents “Protecting Children from Fentanyl in Black and African communities: What parents should know."
The town hall will be held on Wednesday, May 22, 5:00 pm – 8 pm at the HOUSE OF HEALING 4046 NE Martin Luther King Blvd, Portland, OR 97212. Child Care Provided
***Please see the Attachment to register for the event**
We look forward to seeing you. Bring a friend, or family, to help educate our communities on this Crisis.
Community in Unity
