Dear Sellwood Community,

Next week, all 7th graders will be attending a field trip on Thursday, May 8th, to either the Oregon Historical Society or the Center for Holocaust Education. You should have already received and submitted your field trip permission form to your child's 1st period teacher. We are still in need of a few adult volunteers, so if you are interested and available, please let us know. We are in particular need of parent volunteers for Mr. Shelley's, Ms. Asam's, or Ms. Leishman's group.

Sellwood's annual Showcase Night is coming up in June, so please put it on your calendar. You won't want to miss it. See the flyer blow for more information.

Enjoy the weekend.

Sincerely,

Jeandre Carbone

Sellwood Principal

Dear Sellwood Community,

Just a quick reminder that all 8th-graders will be visiting Cleveland High School for an orientation next Wednesday, in the afternoon. They will be travelling by bus and will be back before dismissal. Please make sure to return your permission slip. If you have not seen the permission slip, please ask your child, or you can get one from the main office.

Also, I recommend an upcoming parent event coming up on the evening of May 8th at Cleveland High School entitled Stronger Together: Practicing a Community of Consent and Connection. Please see their flyer below this message.

Sincerely,

Jeandre Carbone

Sellwood Principal

Dear Sellwood Community,

This morning we had an exciting assembly featuring an energetic performance from the Rex Putnam High School Drumline. Congratulations to Sellwood 7th grader Conrad Hyde who performed with the drumline. The show was a mix of percussion and dance, and students really seemed to enjoy it. It was a thrilling way to end the week.

If your child is interested in drumline, there are a few upcoming workshops they can join on May 10th. See the flyers below.

Don't forget that next Wednesday is an early release at 1:45. If you are able, stick around for our wood chip party putting the finishing touches on our new native plant garden.

Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts :-)

Sincerely,

Jeandre Carbone

Sellwood Principal

Dear Sellwood Community,

Today the 8th-graders are enjoying their annual visit to a local(ish) university, with half of the group touring OSU and half touring the U of O. It's a long day, but worth the journey. Even though they are still middle schoolers, it is not too soon to begin imagining post-secondary options. We would like to thank our wonderful PTA for funding the comfortable coaches for the long trip. Also, we are grateful to the parent volunteers who chaperoned the trip, and our teachers who provided supervision. Finally, thank you to Ms. Hall, who coordinated the details of the college visit. It was a big undertaking!

8th graders will also be taking a field trip to Cleveland High School on April 30th, from 2-3:15 PM.

7th graders have their own trip coming up. On May 8th, they will visit either the Center for Holocaust Education or the Oregon Historical Society. Be on the lookout for field trip permission forms, which will be sent home with students. Staff will be recruiting parent chaperones, so if you would like to come along, let us know!

We also invite you to a wood chip spreading party on Wednesday, April 23rd, at 1:45 PM. See the blurb just below this message for more details.

Finally, a shout out to Sellwood student Hazel Nhem, who will be showing her artwork at the Cognizart Young Artists Debut! at the Reser on May 21st, opening 6PM. Congratulations, Hazel!

Enjoy the weekend :-)

Sincerely,

Jeandre Carbone

Sellwood Principal

HeART of Portland, the annual celebration of local student artists, is returning to the Portland Art Museum (PAM) beginning April 16.

The two-week fine arts showcase features work by students from across Portland Public Schools and is made possible by the Arts Access Fund, which also supports elementary visual and performing arts educators.

2025 HeART of Portland kicks off with an opening reception at PAM on April 16 at 6:30 p.m. and concludes with the Miller Family Free Day on April 27. The opening reception will include musical and theatrical performances, as well as a set from the elementary school honor choir – made up of two singers from each PPS elementary – and the debut of the honor dance collective. 

In addition, the showcase will feature more than 100 works of student visual art, handpicked by PPS arts educators, and a collaborative art project for K-12 students that embraces the rebellious spirit of the current PAM exhibition, Psychedelic Rock Posters and Fashion of the 1960s. 

The reception and HeART of Portland exhibits are free and open to everyone. Please join us in lifting up our student artists!

Portland Public Schools is continuing to host a series of events aimed at starting productive conversations about what is possible in the systems we create for our children with disabilities.

As part of this series, we are excited to welcome you to a free screening of The Ride Ahead on Thursday March 20 at McMenamins Kennedy School. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the movie begins at 7:00.

The Ride Ahead is a film about adult life with disabilities by a man with disabilities. It is the debut of 21-year-old Samuel Habib who, struggling to find his place in the world, decides to make a film that charts how a group of disabled adults navigate challenges and forge their own unique paths. The film serves as a roadmap for himself and others and illustrates the compelling power of one person truly determined to live life on his own terms.

In documenting his journey, Samuel is following in the footsteps of his father, the filmmaker Dan Habib. You can learn more about their work here.

Staff, families, and community members are all invited. Parking is free and McMenamins' full menu is available for ordering. We hope to see you there!

In meteorological terms, Portland’s first big weather event of 2024 was the definition of a perfect storm. Frigid temperatures and high winds combined with snow and ice to bring down tree limbs, close roads, scramble traffic, freeze pipes, and knock out power for tens of thousands of residents.

It was a metaphorical perfect storm for Portland Public Schools as well. Fallen trees cut power to multiple schools and others have suffered water damage from broken pipes. Lack of heat was also a problem, and impassable roads, paired with snowed-in and icy parking lots, made it impossible for buses to run safely. Those same conditions limited how the district’s facilities and operations teams can even assess the scope of the issues, let alone begin working on solutions. And icy sidewalks meant walkers have no safe route to school.

This week could bring similar conditions to the Portland area, and PPS’s School Closure Team is ready to meet the challenge. The team convenes regularly during inclement weather to take all of the above into careful consideration. By now, families are quite familiar with how the district communicates these decisions. What’s perhaps less known is how district leaders arrive at such decisions in the first place. 

As part of our district's focus on events that center belonging, equity, and inclusion, we have been screening a series of films that we hope will challenge our perceptions about what is possible in the systems we create for our children with disabilities.

The next film in the series is “Champions,” which will screen on Saturday February 8th at 2:00 PM at Lincoln High School. This event will also include first-hand testimonials from PPS students.

This movie highlights the journey of a basketball coach who leads a team of players with intellectual disabilities. Through humor and heartfelt moments, the movie emphasizes the strengths, individuality, and value each player brings to the team and how inclusion enriches communities and creates positive, supportive environments.

Staff, families, and community members are all invited. Parking is free and light refreshment will be provided. We hope to see you there!