Summer Forecast #2

In true summer fashion I squeezed out every single ounce before my vacation window ended. It was nice to have more flexibility and time off to relax, catch up with friends and projects but alas it is over. 

• I would like to introduce TWO new assistant principals for the upcoming school year. Regina Sun  joins us from Beverly Cleary K-8 and Spencer Crum from Ockley Green. We will discuss the delineation of duties when we are all together. I am excited to have a full team ready to serve staff and students. 

• I warned new hires the building was going to be under construction and we will all need to be flexible this year. When we officially were kicked out on June 23rd, rooms had been assigned and I felt confident we would be in good shape upon our return. Well as with any remodeling project there were unexpected issues that came up. In our case it was firewalls, or lack thereof. The good news is we never had a fire. The bad news is we now know there are few firewalls in place and they have to be built in order for us to be code complaint. This means some major delays on areas being ready in the fall. If you were assigned a room in the spring, this room may be shifted. This is especially the case for teachers in the 100 hall. I will reach out to those people individually to update them on specifics around their spaces. Please know this is fluid and things are shifting daily. My mantra around this is: We have no control over the mistakes of the past that are impacting us now. We can control how we respond to this situation. I am choosing to take deep breaths and know the construction chaos is temporary and in the end we will have MUCH better facilities and it will be worth it.   

         I have seen the contractors hard work. I am very impressed with their professionalism and focus on            safety. I truly feel they are doing their best to help get things taken care of as quickly as they can. We          will all need to be flexible and our mindset will make or break us. I hope we choose to see the silver          linings. When I am assigning spaces I have prioritized CORE classrooms. Please know those with              smaller classes (think Interventions), offices, etc. will be asked to be even more flexible. We                        anticipate some spaces coming online in mid October and other classrooms in December/January. I            will be meeting with all staff individually and we discuss concerns, plans of actions, etc. at that                  time.  

• A reminder that Harrison Park staff reports back on August 22nd (staff will be paid for an extra day). We will be at McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale from 8:00-4:00 on thtwoe 22nd and 23rd. If anyone anticipates transportation issues making it to this campus please let me know. We can potentially arrange some carpools. City buses do stop at the venue. 

• Save the date: September 12th is our Open House/Back to School Night. This event will run from 6:00-7:30. All PAT members need to attend as this is one of our two required night events. 

• Naima and Shannon will be back in the building starting tomorrow (the 8th), but will be out on Tuesday the 15th and 16th at trainings. Regina, Spencer and I are at Leadership/Trainings this week and won't be in the building. We will be back in the building on Monday the 14th. Counselors return on the 16th. 

• The building is still not accessible to staff. If you have questions or concerns around this please reach out to me. 

• Please remember your "homework" assignment. Please dig up a photo of yourself in 6th, 7th or 8th grade. We would like to use these for a display when we return in the fall. Also, please send me your go to song of the summer. The songs are due by August 20th. Photos are needed by the 25th. Shout out to Lisandra for getting her assignment done first!

Enjoy the next two weeks I know they will fly by. We are very excited to begin this journey.