2276 SE 41st  •  Portland, OR 97214  •  Phone: (503) 916-6220   •  Fax: (503) 916-2665  •  keanders@pps.k12.or.us  •  Sitemap

Richmond Principal's Message

April 20

Dear Richmond Families,

Richmond Foundation Parent Pledge Drive Update Thank you very much to the families who have donated to the Parent Pledge Drive thus far. We are almost halfway to our goal of $60,000. Last week 8 more families donated a total of $2,170, which puts our grand total at approximately $29,170. Let's keep it going!

Three frequently asked questions:

Why are we doing this fundraising? Sadly, without parent donations, our school cannot provide the staffing levels to keep our immersion program top notch. This fall Richmond School received an "exceptional rating" from the state. Your donations to the foundation will maintain this rating.

My child is in third grade. Why should I donate money for a first grade teacher? If you have a child at Richmond, you have benefitted from the Foundation's financial support. This year, our librarian position was partly funded by the Richmond Foundation. Money earned this year will support an additional first grade teacher to keep class sizes at that level lower. Please keep in mind that the money just as easily could have funded a 4th or 5th grade teacher, the librarian or even the gym teacher.

How much should I donate? The foundation is asking every family to consider a donation of $265. That is the amount of one month’s kindergarten tuition. If every family donated this amount, we can easily reach our goal of $60,000. Foundation donation form is on the Forms page for your convenience.

April 12

Dear Richmond Families,

The Richmond Foundation's Parent and Staff Pledge Drive will continue through May 31st. We are asking EVERY FAMILY in all grades to donate $265. This is the monthly tuition of kindergarten. Our goal is to fully fund a fourth 1st grade teacher. If we don't, we will have three first grade classes of 30-31 students. If we are successful, we will have four classes of 23-24. Here are the facts you need to know:

WHO: We need all families and staff to contribute.

WHAT: $265 is the requested donation to the Richmond Foundation

WHEN: By May 31st

WHY: To keep class sizes at a reasonable level in first grade, just like we were able to do for 4th and 5th grade with PPS funds.

HOW: Make your $265 donation in one lump sum OR divide it up over several weeks or the months of April and May. The donation form is on the Forms page, and you can drop it off in the Richmond office.

The first thermometer below shows the amount the Richmond Foundation must raise to keep class sizes in first grade reasonable by helping to fund a fourth 1st grade teacher. This amount is $60,000. We have $27,000 so far. The second thermometer shows the participation of Richmond families. The Parent and Staff Pledge Drive needs the support of every family in the school.

While it is a first grade teacher we are trying to fund, it could have easily been a 4/5 grade teacher. We all need to do our part to keep our school exceptional. The district (and state) only give so much...enough for mediocre. If you want exceptional, immersion language, reasonable class size, you must do your part to support this. It can only happen if you all participate.

The Richmond Foundation will have a meeting on Monday, April 16 at 7pm in the Richmond staff room. Please join us! We need all the help we can get.

April 6

Dear Richmond Families,

In our last newsletter of Friday, March 23rd, I gave you the most recent information about the number of transfer applications received to date and the configuration and size of classes for 2007-08. The purpose of this letter is to give you one more update about the number of classes at each grade level and the expected size of each class now that the transfer deadline has closed and all applications have been entered into the online system.

Richmond has received a record number of transfer applications for 2007-08 with 196 total transfer requests, up from 173 in 2006. As you read the table below, please focus on the column labeled "1st choice" to highlight the transfer numbers that represent the most likely scenario for each grade and class.

	1st Choice	2nd Choice	3rd Choice	Totals
PreK (half-day)	12	21	1	34
PreK (full day)	45	7	0	52
Kindergarten	76	16	2	94
1st grade	5	1	1	7
2nd grade	3	0	0	3
3rd grade	3	0	0	3
4th grade	1	0	0	1
5th grade	2	0	0	0
Total transfers	147	45	4	196

Given the above transfer numbers, what will class sizes look like for 2007-08? Here's the most conservative picture:

	# of Classes	Average Class Size
PreK	3	23 - 25
Kindergarten	4	24 - 25
1st grade	3 or 4	31 or 23 - 24
2nd grade	2	27 - 28
3rd grade	2	28 - 29
4th grade	2	22 - 24
5th grade	2	23 - 24

There are some special notes you need to know for several grade levels:

• PreK — Yesterday I received verbal approval from our Superintendent, Director of ESL, Director of Enrollment amd Transfer and our Area Director to have three classes of PreK allowing us to admit ALL first choice transfer applications for 2007-08.
• Kindergarten — Total number of students is expected to be 96-98 from the following sources: 76 from 1st choice transfers, 3-4 from 2nd choice transfers, 14 current Richmond PreK students moving into kindergarten, and 3-4 students who have already contacted us with firm plans to move to Portland this spring and enroll their children for 2007-08.
• 1st Grade — Total number of students is expected to be 93. Additional fundraising via the Richmond Foundation is needed to pay for one-fourth the cost of a classroom teacher. We currently have the equivalent of 0.75 FTE for this position by using the FTE from the reading/immersion specialist position and the $26,000 the Foundation has raised to date.
• 4th and 5th Grade — Four classes in grades 4-5 (two English, two Japanese) rather than three classes with one mixed-age configuration (e.g. 4, 4/5, 5), reflects my priority to keep class sizes in these grades as small as possible due to the steep increase in academic expectations from the Oregon content standards and the Japanese language curriculum. This priority was strongly supported by Richmond's faculty.

We will need to come together as a school community to raise funds to cover one-fourth of the cost of a classroom teaching position to keep class sizes manageable for our first grade students. Any additional funds raised would help us retain our wonderful reading specialist who works with students in grades 1-5. This fundraising is the work of our entire school community – families AND staff – because we ALL benefit when the needs of Richmond children are effectively met in small class sizes with support from highly skilled teachers and instructional specialists.

Many new parents at Richmond are shocked to learn they need to raise funds via our local school foundation to maintain or add precious programs and staff to support our immersion program. Unfortunately this is not a new phenomenon that is limited to Richmond. Last week, the Portland Schools Foundation issued a press release announcing $850,000 in grants to help schools across the district to improve teaching and learning. Last year, local school foundations raised a total of $2,526,000 to support their local school programs and contributed $842,000 (i.e. one-third of total funds raised) to the Portland Schools Foundation’s equity fund for school improvement grants. Over the last ten years, local school foundations have contributed over $4.5 million to this equity fund from more than $13.5 million in total funds raised to "add back" staff positions and program support in local schools.

I've scheduled several sessions for parents to gather with me to get any and all questions answered about the staffing process, our school's fundraising needs and any other issues parents may have. I've set sessions at morning, afternoon and evening times to accommodate most schedules. Please let me know if you can't make one of these sessions and we'll try to schedule another time to get together at your convenience.

Thank you very much for all your questions, brilliant ideas, and offers of support as we have worked through the annual staffing and transfer processes. Your commitment to our school, to every student and every staff member is the reason why this is such a special community in which to learn and work.

March 23

Dear Richmond Families,

As I type this letter there are just two hours remaining in the annual enrollment and transfer cycle for Portland Public Schools. The number of transfer applications for Richmond has exceeded our expectations and gives us the opportunity to expand Japanese immersion education to far more students and families in 2007-08. Here's a snapshot of our anticipated class enrollments for the coming school year:

• 70 students in 3 pre-school classrooms with 23-25 students each
• 88-94 kindergarten students in 4 classrooms with 22-24 students each
• 93 first graders in 3 classrooms with 31 students each OR 4 classrooms with 23-24 students each (see note below)
• 56 second graders in 2 classrooms with 28 students each
• 57 third graders in 2 classrooms with 28-29 students each
• 45 fourth graders in 2 classrooms with 22-23 students each
• 47 fifth graders in 2 classrooms with 23-24 students each

Support staff includes PE and Library in addition to our secretary and principal.

A special note about 1st grade: Four classrooms in first grade are not possible unless we raise funds for FTE from the following sources:

• 0.50 FTE by eliminating the reading or immersion specialist position
• 0.25 FTE from Richmond Foundation
• 0.25 FTE raised by parents donating the equivalent of one month of kindergarten tuition to Richmond’s Foundation ($265 x 135 families = $36,000 enough for 0.25 FTE after 1/3 is donated to the Portland Schools Foundation)

Please give some serious thought to making a donation to Richmond's Foundation in order to keep our 1st grade class sizes small so our teachers can give your children the attention and support they need to thrive in school.

March 9

Dear Richmond Families,

Earlier this week you should have received a short announcement via Richmond's listserv about an increase to our staff allocation for 2007-08. Richmond was one of four schools in the Franklin/Cleveland cluster to request additional staff positions to support the academic and enrichment needs of a growing school population. I requested 2.29 FTE (full-time equivalent staff positions) and received an actual increase of 0.75 FTE. As the article in today's issue of The Oregonian reports, Richmond was one of just 15 elementary and middle schools across the district to receive additional staff positions An increase of 1.25 FTE was the largest given to any school and 0.04 FTE was the smallest amount.

What does this increase mean for Richmond's classroom and support staff for the next school year? Here's the picture:

• Grades 2-5 will have two classes at each grade level—-one English and one Japanese
• Kindergarten and first grade will have three classes at each grade level with an intern in each English and Japanese classroom
• Pre-school will have two classes
• Full-time PE and library staff will see each class twice each week in 30 minute classes
• Half-time reading specialist OR immersion specialist

This will mean larger class sizes at grades K-3 than Richmond families are used to in recent years—28 to 30 students on average—but classes of this size are, sadly, not out of the ordinary for most elementary schools in the Portland Public School District. We are very fortunate at Richmond to have the support of our interns, which is something no other elementary school benefits from. Interns, plus consistent support from specialists, plus additional volunteer training and time in every classroom will be a big help for students and teachers.

On Monday, March 5, Peter W. Cookson Jr., dean of the Graduate School of Education and Counseling at Lewis and Clark College, wrote an intriguing Op-Ed column for The Oregonian entitled, "If our high schools were like Google…" One of his points for reform is that every child should be able to master a second or third language. "In a global world, monolingualism is a form of illiteracy," he maintains. All of us working together in Richmond's Japanese immersion program—teachers, parents, support staff—are working hard to make sure the children enrolled at our school are fluently literate in two of the most important languages in the world.

Thank you for all your support this week as I worked to make the case for additional staff at Richmond in 2007-08. Your kind words, smiles, and emails of encouragement mean the world to me.

March 2

Dear Richmond Families,

Last week I received several new pieces of information that answer a number of questions about the formula used to generate Richmond's staff allocation for 2007-08. John Horn, Richmond's Area Director for the Franklin/Cleveland cluster, and Shawn Helm, budget analyst in Portland Public Schools' budget office have given me the following information about our staff allocation for the years 2006-07 and 2007-08:

• Richmond was over-staffed by a 0.85 full-time equivalent staff position (FTE) for the 2006-07 school year due to three factors: 1). Average daily membership at 292 students, or eight students below the cutoff of 300 for a small staff increase of 0.25 FTE for schools with enrollment between 300-399; 2). September enrollment of 83 kindergarten students versus the 100 students we planned for translates to 0.59 FTE, and 3). A small change in our socio-economic status translates to a 0.01 FTE difference. Richmond's allocation for 2006-07 should have been 13.95 FTE after subtracting this extra 0.85 FTE from our original allocation of 14.80 FTE (0.25 + 0.59 + 0.01 = 0.85 FTE). Last fall, rather than reduce our FTE to the actual earned level, Portland Public Schools chose to keep our FTE at 14.80 FTE to avoid disruption of service to students.

• Richmond's allocation for 2007-08 has increased 1.76 FTE, not 0.91 FTE as I previously thought. This 1.76 FTE increase was calculated from our 2007-08 allocation of 15.71 FTE minus Richmond's 2006-07 earned allocation of 13.95 FTE.

• Richmond's allocation is based upon a 12% enrollment increase for 2007-08. This percentage covers one-half of our projected new enrollees in kindergarten with four classes of 25 students each. Remember that one-half of the enrollment for kindergarten is used for general fund staff allocation purposes because the State of Oregon provides funding for half-day kindergarten programs only.

• Our 2007-08 allocation of 15.71 FTE has been checked and double-checked by Portland Public Schools' budget office and is an accurate allocation. Richmond received a staff allocation using the same equitable formula for all schools and will not receive additional staff positions because our district budget does not have the capacity to do so. We will need to trim approximately 1.00 FTE to maintain our instructional program and preserve enrichment services of PE and library for our students in 2007-08.

I have given our Area Director a formal proposal for 1.29 additional staffing for 2007-08 to be used for two purposes: 1). .29 FTE to return our reading specialist to her current half-time position; 2) 1.00 FTE for an immersion specialist to coordinate enrichment services for students, professional development for teachers and partnerships for the school at large. I will update you about the status of this proposal as soon as I hear from our Area Director.

When I came to Richmond 18 months ago, you let me know you had two primary needs from the principal's office in addition to the basics of strong instructional leadership and smooth building management. You requested I vigorously advocate for immersion education and make the reality of our resources very transparent (time, funding, staffing, materials, expertise, etc.). The information you've received about our basic staff allocation for 2007-08 and the updated facts in this letter continue my commitment to you for transparency.

February 16

Dear Richmond Families,

I received Richmond's staff allocation this week from our district office and want you to know and understand the details. I also want you to know that Richmond's staff allocation is consistent with all elementary schools in Portland Public Schools-—we're all in the same boat because our allocation is based on the same formula using the Average Daily Membership, the average number of students enrolled on any given day. Elementary schools were staffed at a 23.5 to 1 student/teacher ratio. Middle and high schools were staffed at a 22.7 to 1 student/teacher ratio. This means that for every student enrolled, middle and high schools received almost a full staff allocation more than an elementary school (0.80 FTE).

Here's what this looks like for Richmond:

18.50 FTE	WHAT WE NEED: Total full-time equivalent staff positions required to maintain current immersion program and maintain class sizes of 24-28 for 2007-08.
15.71 FTE	WHAT WE RECEIVED: Richmond Staff Allocation for 2007-08
<2.79 FTE>	STAFFING DEFICIT: Amount needed to 1). Preserve existing enrichment positions of PE, library and reading specialist (2.00 FTE total); 2). Maintain class sizes at 24-28; and 3). Add an immersion specialist to provide support for all cultural exchanges (including 5th grade trip), partner ships with businesses and cultural groups, manage residencies of artists and experts to work with students inside the school day as well as beyond the school day or year.

How much of our essential staffing will 15.71 FTE cover? We'll need 14.00 FTE to cover classroom teaching positions in our partial immersion model:

14.00 FTE	Pre-school staff paid entirely with tuition, so their positions are not figured into this formula. 2 FTE for 4 kindergarten classes (2 FTE paid by tuition; 4 teachers total) 4 FTE for 4 first grade classes 2 FTE for 2 second grade classes 2 FTE for 2 third grade classes 2 FTE for 2 fourth grade classes 2 FTE for 2 fifth grade classes
+1.71 FTE	Amount remaining to cover secretary (0.50 FTE), principal (1.00 FTE) and ALL enrichment (0.21 FTE) . The “enrichment” allocation equals one day per week for enrichment services and can cover music, PE, library and art. Secretary and principal allocation may not be converted to teaching positions.

So, what can be done to help the central administrators in Portland Public Schools understand the severity of Richmond's 15.71 FTE allocation and correct this mistake?

Portland Public Schools' Superintendent, Dr. Vicki Phillips, shared this news with the media and the Board of Education at their meeting on Monday, February 12, 2007:

I am pleased to deliver to the Portland Board of Education and the entire Portland Public Schools community a proposed budget that—-for the first time in more than a decade—-does not propose sweeping budget cuts to our schools. Thanks to the Oregon Legislature's reauthorization of our gap funding, and more importantly, Portland's strong vote last November for the local option, we are facing several years of budget stability.

Dr. Phillips went on to say,

While still tight, the proposed budget offers hope as we deliver on our five-year Strategic Plan. I believe the stable funding will allow us to continue to increase student achievement from elementary grades through high school. And leveraging our staff in new and creative ways, we will take the first steps toward ensuring all of our students a well-rounded and enriched curriculum that includes wellness, music and the arts.

Hopefully, Richmond's staff allocation is a miscalculation, given the encouraging budget news in Dr. Phillips' message to the Board of Education and the media. I have given our Area Director, John Horn, a detailed proposal outlining the necessity of an 18.50 FTE allocation supported by staff and enrollment data. I will meet with him several times in the next week to review this information so he can help me successfully advocate for correction of our allocation. I will keep you informed via the newsletter and list-serve as this work proceeds.

Where can you go to get more information or share your priorities for Portland Public Schools' 2007-08 budget? The proposed budget for 2007-08 can be found on the PPS Web site.

Parents can comment on the budget during public feedback portions of regular Board of Education meetings on:

• Monday, February 26th at 6:30 PM at the district office located at 501 N. Dixon (near the Rose Garden, one block North of Broadway and Interstate)
• Monday, March 6th at 7:00-9:00 PM at the district office. Note: This is a meeting entirely about the budget.
• Monday, March 12th at 6:30 PM at the district office

Comments and questions may be e-mailed to the Board at SchoolBoard ( at )@ pps ( dot ) k12 ( dot ) or ( dot ) us or sent via regular mail to School Board, P.O. Box 3107, Portland, OR 97208-3107.

Please do not hesitate to share your questions, thoughts and ideas with me in the weeks ahead. I deeply appreciate your wisdom and passion about Richmond's immersion program.

January 26

Dear Richmond Families,

Our office phone is ringing off the hook with calls from prospective parents requesting information about school tours, information nights, and the transfer process to enroll their child(ren) in our Japanese immersion program. We're averaging 15-18 parents on our weekly tours of classrooms and I receive 3-5 emails per day from families living as far away as Osaka and as close as Laurelhurst Park. The common denominator with most of these queries is the connection to current Richmond families. People call and visit our school most often because they have heard YOU saying such wonderful things about our school's program.

We've refined the information in the kimono red parent packets to give you up-to-date information as you talk to friends, family members, co-workers, and neighbors about your child's experience at Richmond. Baskets with red parent packets are located in the main hallway and on the bench in the cafeteria. Please feel free to take these packets to share with folks who may be interested in pursuing Japanese immersion education for their children.

What's my child's chance of getting into Richmond? Very good if your child is a pre-school or kindergarten student. Here’s a look at the transfer slots we've established for each grade level for the 2007-08 school year:

• Pre-school: 50 slots for 2 classes of 25 students each, divided among full and halfday programs
  Note: tuition is $650 per month for full-day pre-school, $400 for half-day pre-school.
• Kindergarten: 100 slots for 4 classes of 25 students each; tuition is $295 per month
• 1st Grade: 12 slots for 4 classes of 24 students each
• 2nd Grade: 2 slots for 2 classes of 26-28 students each
• 3rd Grade: 2 slots for 2 classes of 26-28 students each
• 4th Grade: 6 slots for 2 classes of 25 students each
• 5th Grade: 6 slots for 2 classes of 25 students each

Some important dates for families to remember:

• February 4 — Transfer forms available online and in school offices
• Wed. February 7 — Information night at Richmond, 7:00 PM
• Thurs. February 22 — Information night at Richmond, 7:00 PM
• Wed. March 14 — Mandatory meeting at Richmond, 1:00 or 7:00 PM
• Fri. March 23 — Transfer forms due to PPS Enrollment and Transfer Office
• Tues. April 10 — Mandatory meeting at Richmond, 1:00 or 7:00 PM

January 19

Dear Richmond Families,

The tea house is finally installed at Richmond!! Volunteers Jason Greene and Dave McDonald did a fantastic job thanks to the coordination, painting and encouragement of Richmond parent Cathrine Malone. There are a few details and touch-ups that need to happen before it's ready to be used by Richmond students, but it's looking great and very prominent on the stage in the cafeteria. Please join me in thanking:

• Henjyoji Temple for their gracious donation of the tea house to Richmond
• Richmond’s Cultural Committee: Catherine Malone (chair), Linda Insako Angst, David Jacobsen, Yoshiko Kamata, David Komeiji, Meg Matsushima, Monica Mueller, Nina Nakagawa, Amy Osaki, Doug Smith, Sadafumi Uchiyama, Alison Walcott, and
• Oya No Kai for their help with funds to pay for truck rental to move the tea house to Richmond from the Henjyoji Temple.

We're a very fortunate school to have such wonderful support from our community.

Domo arigato gozaimasu!

January 12

Dear Richmond Families,

We're approaching the time of year when we anxiously await news about the amount of staff positions Richmond will receive from Portland Public Schools' staff allocation process. The amount of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions we receive will allow us to make decisions about services to students and families beyond our classroom and PE program. We hope to receive an increase in our staff allocation for 2007-08 due to several key factors:

• The strong support for Richmond's Japanese immersion program by our Area Director, John Horn. Mr. Horn has promised to urge our district for additional staff for immersion programs because he recognizes the value of language immersion education and understands this work requires specialized support from, in Richmond's case, a Japanese immersion specialist. He also believes every school needs a wide array of enrichment services: extra reading support, music, PE, art, library and counseling.

• Our growing enrollment. Richmond currently serves 361 students in grades PreK to 5 and we are projected to serve 415-431 in 2007-08. An enrollment over 400 gives us a small staff boost of .25 FTE plus two additional staff positions for our expanded first grade. This small .25 FTE would allow us to:
  1. Maintain full funding for our library position, and

  2. Apply additional FTE we might receive to our half-time reading specialist and a full-time Japanese immersion specialist. Note: it's likely we will need funding from Richmond's Foundation to add both positions.

• A stronger Oregon economy and greater consensus about the importance of stable school funding among Oregon’s legislature.

• The successful bond measure passed by voters in Portland Public Schools last November 2006.

When will we learn the actual staff allocation for 2007-08? We expect to receive our staff allocation the week of February 12-16 after Superintendent Phillips presents the district budget to the Board of Education on February 12th. This gives me three weeks to work with our staff, Site Council and parent groups to get input on Richmond's final staffing plan before submitting it to our Area Director the week of March 5-9.

I'll keep you up-to-date via the Richmond Shinbun should there be any changes to the staffing timeline. I'll also schedule a family information night toward the end of February so parents have a chance to hear the details of our staff allocation, ask questions and give input about our final staff plan. As always, please do not hesitate to ask questions and share your ideas!

January 5

Dear Richmond Families,

We've had a wonderful start to 2007 with the installation of our new playground structure, courtesy of a dedicated group of volunteers who weathered rain, wind and deep mud to get the structure in place December 29 and 30. Please extend your appreciation to these hardworking volunteers, pictured below in order from left to right!

David Hill, Gary Kuney, Doug Peters, Will Scheuermann, Paul Gilles, Laurent Avonstondt, Peter Coonradt, Darell Duffy, and Dustin Klinger

I'd also like to thank our PTA leadership for their coordination of this playground project. Kristina Kallen, PTA president; Satoko Moran, Treasurer; and Kim Tanada, Secretary have put in an endless amount of time raising funds, tracking money, thanking donors, etc. I also want to thank Katy Wolk-Stanley for her tireless fundraising during the spring and summer. We would not have this beautiful new playground without the collective work of these folks. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We also just received a very generous gift from a new company located in our neighborhood. Urban Development Partners (UD+P) sent us a check for $2,500 for the next phase of our playground project. They also sent a check for $2,500 for Richmond’s Foundation. Please join me in thanking Urban Development Partners (UD+P) for their support of our school program!

December 7

Dear Richmond Families,

Oya No Kai is a long-serving parent group dedicated to the support of the Japanese Magnet Program (JMP) from PreK to 12. This summer, Oya No Kai's access to students and families at Richmond, Mt. Tabor and Grant High School was limited by a new policy enacted by Portland Public Schools' board of education in June 2006. This policy (#3.30.038) requires all "outside" groups to request and receive district permission before sharing information with students and families or hosting events. As a separate 501(c)(3) organization, Oya No Kai must comply with the new district policy. The only groups with greater access to students and families are school PTA groups, school foundations and booster clubs.

For the last four months, I've been working with Oya No Kai's board of directors to help them navigate the transition to approved booster club status. Our conversations have centered around these legal priorities:

1. Compliance with Portland Public Schools' policies for community groups
2. Compliance with the legal requirements for 501(c)(3) status (e.g. financial reporting, Board policies and structure, etc.)
3. Equal opportunities for meaningful involvement and access to information in Oya No Kai by all stakeholders

Over the last four months, the entire Richmond community has reached out to lend a hand to Oya No Kai as their board of directors examined the transition to a booster club. Richmond's PTA has donated hundreds of hours of time to help Oya No Kai with fundraisers this fall. Our Site Council has provided support and served as a sounding board for ideas. Richmond's strategic fund-raising committee developed an ambitious fund-raising plan and a parent worked with me to write two grants totaling almost $60,000 to fund collaborative endeavors (i.e. tea house, revision of the Japanese curriculum and completion of the Japanese garden). I facilitated a temporary waiver from Oya No Kai's status as an "outside" group under the new PPS policy, to give Oya No Kai the time it needs to make sound restructuring decisions. I invited members of Oya No Kai's board of directors to our November staff meeting to listen to teachers' feedback and gave them detailed information from Richmond parent surveys to guide restructuring efforts. On a weekly basis, I have helped Oya No Kai committees with articles for Richmond's newsletter and website to expand their communication ability. Finally, I've been at Oya No Kai's disposal to listen and answer questions, brainstorm possibilities, and research options.

The Richmond community has helped Oya No Kai identify several strong possibilities for booster club collaboration:

• Expand/enhance partnerships within Portland's Japanese community
• Write grants for cultural enrichment
• Expand/enhance public relations and marketing to facilitate expansion of the JMP
• Expand extended day/year enrichment opportunities to meet the needs of more families
• Refine cultural exchanges and move coordination of the 5th grade Japan trip to PPS with the addition of a Japanese immersion specialist.

As we discussed at the October 24th meeting of Oya No Kai's board of directors, each possibility has the potential to benefit the entire Japanese Magnet Program PreK to 12, something that has always been a high priority for Oya No Kai.

This list is certainly not an exhaustive list. Oya No Kai plans to submit a proposal to all building principals (Richmond, Mt. Tabor and Grant) in the weeks ahead. This proposal will include a plan for the area(s) of emphasis selected by Oya No Kai's board of directors for their new booster club.

As the Richmond community has shown, we are all dedicated to making sure Japanese immersion students at Richmond, Mt. Tabor and Grant have a network of strong community support to enrich their education. Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have questions or wish to have more information about our work to help Oya No Kai. Making sure you have accurate, up-to-date information about this, or any other subject, is always a priority. You can reach me at 503-916-6220 or email.

November 17

Dear Richmond Families,

We just received the official word from the Portland Schools Foundation about a New Vision grant award to help us expand our improvements to writing instruction at Richmond. Our school joined a small group of schools in the Cleveland/Franklin region to write a New Vision grant together to address our common need to improve the way we teach writing. Specifically, this grant will:

• Provide a protocol for teachers to use to examine student writing and the learning behaviors of students during classroom writing lessons.
• Provide more time for teachers to examine student writing in grade level and/or language teams to determine the implications for improving instruction.
• Provide opportunities for teachers to visit colleagues classrooms during writing lessons to examine the impact of new instructional strategies and materials on the quality of student writing.

The work of this New Vision grant gives us the resources to carefully apply the information Richmond teachers have gleaned from teacher training sessions at the district level. For example, over the last year our PreK-2 teachers have been involved with professional training to improve reading and writing instruction. Walk into any Richmond classroom (both English and Japanese) and you should see evidence of the impact of teachers' training with writing instruction:

• Lots of current student writing on display around the classroom and in the halls.
• Children writing for many purposes throughout the school day.
• Children writing together with the whole class, in pairs, in small groups with the teacher, together with a parent volunteer or intern, and independently.
• Teachers leading mini-lessons about writing skills to the whole class based on needs taken from the teachers' examination of student writing.
• Child authors sharing their writing with partners, table groups or the entire class on a daily basis.
• Writing folders filled with writing in different stages of the writing process (i.e. planning, drafting, revising, editing, publishing).

Grant writing at Richmond is going strong for other school needs as well. I've shared a massive grant calendar with our faculty, Site Council and parent fundraising committee that I developed to target the goals and objectives in Richmond's school improvement plan. We've set a goal to write two grants a month to fund our school priorities, so look for updates about this work in the months ahead. In the meantime, I hope your family has a wonderful, restful Thanksgiving holiday!

October 27

Dear Richmond Families,

Every year, schools survey the student population to identify students who may be intellectually gifted and/or academically talented. This talented and gifted process (TAG) includes the chance for parents to nominate their child if they believe the child is exceptionally able. Nomination forms are located in the main hallway on the TAG bulletin board and are also available from your child’s teacher or in the school office. The deadline for TAG nomination is November 30th.

Currently almost 7% of Richmond students have been identified as talented and gifted. Unsure whether your child is a TAG candidate? The following list of common TAG characteristics has been taken from our district's TAG Parent Handbook to help guide your conversation with your child’s teacher in the weeks ahead:

• Memory – Possesses a large storehouse of information on school and nonschool topics.
• Inquiry – Asks unusual questions for age; plays around with ideas.
• Reasoning – Uses logical approaches to figuring out solutions; ability to think things through and come up with a logical answer and explain why this is so.
• Problem Solving – Effective strategies for recognizing and solving complex problems.
• Motivation – Persistent in self-selected tasks; may be culturally influenced and evident in school and non-school activities; very enthusiastic learner.
• Insight – Quickly grasps new concepts and makes connections; keenly observant.
• Imagination/Creativity – Produces many ideas; highly original; fluent and flexible producer of ideas; highly curious.
• Communication Skills – Highly expressive; unusual ability to communicate effectively (verbally, nonverbally, physically, artistically, symbolically).
• Interests – Unusual or advanced interests in a topic or activity; self-starter; pursues an activity unceasingly, beyond the group.
• Humor – Conveys and picks up on humor well.

Please let your child's teacher know if you have questions or need more information about talented and gifted identification and services for your child. We're here to help!

October 20

Dear Richmond Families,

Our General Parent meeting this past Wednesday was a celebration of all the success at Richmond over the last year. In case you missed Wednesday's meeting, the list below charts our accomplishments together as a committed group of educators, parents, interns and community members. Take a look and pat yourself on the back for all we've accomplished together for the children at Richmond!

• Exceptional school rating from the Oregon Department of Education in October 2006
• 2005 Goldman Sachs award for Excellence in International Education
• Ambitious school improvement plan
• New Japanese immersion pre-school program for 3 and 4 year olds
• Hosted 1st annual Spring Festival in April 2006
• Four kindergarten classrooms with reasonable class sizes (21 each) starts the wave of school growth to double school size by 2012
• Fundraising and support for eight interns, thanks to Oya No Kai
• New brochure and parent packet promotes our school story
• Professional Web site shares our school with the world, thanks to Richmond parent, Jean Mittelstaedt!
• Weekly Richmond Shinbun with lots of news! New playground structure to be installed in November, thanks to the PTA and playground committee
• Japanese garden plan for the front entry thanks to Richmond parent and professional landscape architect, Sada Uchiyama
• Tea house to be installed on stage, thanks to Richmond’s cultural committee
• Grandparents Brigade provides daily class and school support, thanks to Dorothy Fisher, grandparent of Benjamin, Juliet and Nicholas
• Record breaking fundraising by the Richmond Foundation to fund our library aide AND
• Reading specialist funded by collaboration with PTA, Oya No Kai and Richmond Foundation
• Fundraising plan developed by Richmond's fundraising committee with three parts: Grants, pledges and special events/sales
• Grant writing for school improvement work:
  • $40,000 Portland Schools Foundation grant pending to support writing instruction with cluster schools
  • Japan Foundation grant planning for revision of Japanese curriculum

This list is proof the sky's the limit when we work together. Thank you for all your support!

October 12

Dear Richmond Families,

Today the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) released report cards for every public school throughout the state. Each school was given one of five possible overall ratings: exceptional, strong, satisfactory, low or unacceptable. Richmond's rating on the Oregon report card simply confirms what everyone knows: We have an EXCEPTIONAL school! Richmond's exceptional overall rating is based on the following three factors:

• Student Performance - The percentage of students who meet and exceed state standards on reading, writing, and math standardized tests. We received a student performance rating of exceptional because more than 95% of Richmond third, fourth and fifth graders met/exceeded the 2006 Oregon reading and math tests.
• Student Behavior - Rated on the percentage of students attending school each day. We received a student behavior rating of exceptional, because our daily attendance average exceeded the goal of 95%.
• School Characteristics - Rated on the percentage of students in school taking the state tests. We received an exceptional rating for school characteristics because 100% of Richmond third, fourth and fifth graders took the state tests.

While we are pleased and proud of this year's overall score, we want to remind you that the state report card is one of many tools used at Richmond to determine how effective we are with our instructional program. The state report card focuses primarily on test scores for 3rd-5th graders as a benchmark of student achievement. At Richmond, we also evaluate students on the quality of their daily work and nightly homework, their level of class participation and their social and emotional development. Our evaluation of your child's academic progress will be thoroughly explained to you during your parent/teacher conference the week of November 20-22.

Richmond's exceptional rating is a success for everyone in our school community: the staff, students, and parents who are working together to make this school such a wonderful place for learning in English and Japanese. It's proof the sky's the limit if we pull together and keep ourselves firmly focused on the crucial work of teaching and learning. Thank you for your support and dedication to our school!

October 6

Dear Richmond Families,

Enrollment is booming at Richmond! The total number of students served in our school has now reached 384 with 361 in Japanese Immersion and 24 in Indian Education's Montessori Program. Last year at this time we were serving 306 students in Japanese Immersion. This enrollment increase for Richmond is in contrast to Portland Public Schools' enrollment decline for 2006-07.

As expected, the number of students enrolled in Portland Public Schools declined slightly this year. As of the preliminary October 2 enrollment snapshot, 46,378 students are enrolled, pre-kindergarten through high school, a drop of 1.3 percent from October 2005's enrollment of 47,008. That is the smallest enrollment decline in five years.

At the district level, this year's students include:

• 22,176 in pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade (down 130 from 2005)
• 9,970 in 6th through 8th grades (down 141)
• 14,216 in high school, grades 9 through 12 (down 375), and
• 16 students who are not in graded programs (up 16 from 2005)

The count includes all students served by Portland Public Schools in regular, focus option and alternative schools, in special services programs, community-based education programs and in public charter schools.

The school district contracts with Portland State University's Population Research Center for long-term enrollment projections for Portland's K-12 student population. The demographers project that Portland Public Schools' enrollment will stabilize at roughly 43,000 to 44,000 students after years of decline due to dropping birthrates and the lack of affordable family housing in the city.

September 15

Dear Richmond Families,

As many of you know, Richmond's 5th graders take a trip every summer to visit our sister schools in Japan and put their six years of Japanese language study to practical use. This wonderful experience is organized and sponsored by Oya No Kai, the parent group for the three Japanese immersion schools in Portland (Richmond, Mt. Tabor Middle and Grant High). The trip in 2006 was the 11th year 5th graders have traveled to Japan and I was fortunate enough to be able to join them.

Rebecca Schulte, parent of two children in the Japanese immersion program, was a terrific chaperone this summer. Rebecca took hundreds of pictures to chronicle our adventure and has put the best of the bunch on display in our cafeteria. I encourage you to take a moment and enjoy her beautiful collage in the cafeteria and check out Richmond's Web site for additional pictures of the 2006 trip.

On another photographic note, Monday is picture day at Richmond! Patsy has extra copies of the picture order forms in the office in case yours didn't make it home or met a messy end in your child’s backpack.

I look forward to seeing you at Back-to-School Night on Tuesday, September 19th!

September 8

Dear Richmond Families,

It's been a wonderful start to the school year for Richmond students, teachers and parents. Many parents and students have told me how nice it is to be back at school and I couldn't agree more. We have 113 new families, a new strategic plan and talented new teachers to add to our team. It's clearly going to be a great year of learning, if the smiles on the faces of students, teachers and parents are any indication of community confidence and satisfaction in our school.

Many of you have already welcomed our new teachers and have been full of compliments about their work so far. Here's the list of our new teachers in case you haven't had a chance to greet them yet.

• Jaina Kapranos, preschool
• Kelly Marsh, kindergarten
• Maki Hagglund, 3rd grade
• Beth Martin, 3rd grade

I'm very happy to be back at Richmond as your building principal and honored to work with such a committed and talented school community. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can do anything more to make sure your tenure at Richmond is a wonderful experience. Your feedback helps us improve our service to you and your family.

05 - 06 school year archive