

The Sabin Star
September 2023 Volume #2 Issue #1
First Week's Reflection
What a fantastic three weeks here at Sabin. Students are making new friends, renewing old friendships and spending time getting to know their teachers. Our staff has been hard at work preparing and delivering engaging lessons, spending valuable time setting students up for the social-emotional tools they need for well-being and academic success, and listening to and learning the needs of your student.
When you share your student with Sabin you are entering into a partnership to improve the life of and opportunities for each child. We are in this together, and your ongoing communication with your child's teacher helps create a partnership that will yield fantastic results.
Besides our commitment to each of you, one of the most important commitments our staff and community continues to make is to ensure that racial equity is at the forefront of everything we do and every decision we make. It means prioritizing the needs of our BIPOC students and families. This type of work and thinking is one of abundance, not deficit. We recognize that when we prioritize the needs of our BIPOC students everyone wins. When we are intentional about our work, we lift up historically underserved communities while educating everyone about what equity looks like on a daily basis.
My friend and colleague, Chrysanthius Lathan, and I, along with our staff, worked hard to build upon this important work and I assure you that though there may be a change in leadership, our commitment and resolve to do the hard and important work of racial equity and social justice continues. And we are just getting started!
How can you help?
Recognize that each day, despite best intentions and sound hearts and minds, we carry biases with us that impact how we interact with our community. Give yourself some grace from those biases and go out of your way to meet and engage with other community members that may have a different lived experience from your own. After all, we are all here at Sabin and you already have something lovely and important in common, the well being of children. Let's make Sabin represent what we hope to see in the world for our children and ourselves.
Introducing Assistant Principal Katy Vawter
Dear Sabin Families,
I am so excited to be part of the Sabin Community. If we haven’t had a chance to meet yet, my name is Katy Vawter (rhymes with “water”). I am the new Assistant Principal at Sabin. My passion is connecting with students and families, and building strong relationships. I am also an advocate for Racial Equity and Social Justice. My work as an educator started at the University of San Francisco where I earned my teaching credential. I taught for 15 years years (collectively) in Redwood City, California and Boston, Massachusetts. In 2009, I received my MA in Organization and Leadership and my Administrative Credential again at USF. It’s hard to believe that I am now entering in my 10th year as an Educational Leader. This is such an important milestone for me and I wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else but Sabin. It is a joy working side-by-side with Mr. Diltz. I honor and respect all of the hard work that was done before my arrival. My goal is to follow in the greatness of Ms. Lathan and Mr. Diltz.
WIth just a handful of days in, I have observed the wonder of kindergarteners stepping into their educational journey, the leadership of 4th and 5th graders, the dedication of all Sabin Staff, and the welcoming spirit of this community. I look forward to meeting you all at Back to School Night on September 27th. In the meantime, please reach out if you have questions, want to say hi, talk about music and food, and/or share great stories about your kiddo(s).
With sincere gratitude,
Ms. Vawter
503.313.7635 Text or talk
Yellow Jackets, Bees and Other Stinging, Flying Creatures Update
Well Mother Nature sure loves the natural spaces here at Sabin. The joy of our spaces seems to have been conveyed to every flying, stinging creature in Multnomah County as they have made Summer homes in our playgrounds. We continue to have exterminators out to service our campus but the problem still exists.
As you may imagine, the exterminators are unable to use the most aggressive chemicals on the nests and the yellow jackets are incredibly stubborn. We have closed the north playground to mitigate some of the issue however nests exist on the south playground as well. The Nature playground is off-limits until further notice. We try using caution tape but evenings and weekends it gets taken down by visitors to our public spaces. So please use caution in the natural spaces of our campus in the meantime. If your child is allergic to bees and uses an Epi-pen, please complete paperwork to keep a pen here at our school.
Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook
The 2023-2024 PPS Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook is now available online. The district will have translated copies in the 5 languages for distribution within the next 2 weeks. In the meantime please refer to the link below for the online version.
2023-24 PPS Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Discipline Handbook English.pdf
Love is in infinite supply
Reading together
Just another Fun Friday Dance Party
Office Space
Family Resource Room
Hello Sabin Families,
This is LaShee, The Family Resource Advocate in Room 200.
The Family Resource Room is for families that need somewhere quiet to work on the computer, make private phone calls, do paperwork, resumes, etc. It is also a gathering spot for families wishing to connect. We also take donations to help make the space welcoming and comfortable (i.e. plateware, furniture, food/coffee).
If you and your family need a little help with food, we give out food baskets on Thursdays.
If you are interested in receiving a food basket each Thursday, please reach out to me or Ms. Janessa, our Social Worker. We are happy to help you with food or other resource needs.
PTA Corner
-The first PTA meeting of the year will be September 20th at 6 PM, in the Family Resource Room. We will have childcare and pizza available. You don't need to be a formal member of PTA to attend-- we welcome everyone in the Sabin community!
-Run for Sabin will be October 5th. This is our school's biggest fundraiser of the school year, and supports reading results, arts and garden programming, equity initiatives, and community events. We have a really fun morning planned with music and lots of school spirit! Stay tuned for information about how to register your student.
-Interested in volunteering? Get a jump-start by getting your background check here: https://www.pps.net/Page/3718. You can reach out to our school secretary Heather Maharry at hmaharry@pps.net to find out more.
-The PTA is here to support our amazing community of teachers and families! Don't hesistate to reach out at sabinptapresident@gmail.com.
Meal Benefits, Speed of Lunch Lines and Student Helpers
We encourage families to complete meal applications for free/reduced price meals. All families must reapply if their student attends a non-CEP school (Sabin is a non-CEP school). The state of Oregon expanded the income guideline. During meal services the first couple of weeks of school, lunch lines may appear longer and slower. As students learn the procedures and their ID number, the lines will become more efficient. Student helpers and volunteers help our lunch time process and we welcome parent volunteers for supervision and student engagement.
Library Corner
We are up and rolling in the library! Over the summer, we did a major overhaul to make the library more inviting and easier for students to browse through books. Of course, moving things means that our older students, who know the library better, are still getting to know the new arrangement. With their help, we will make tweeks later in the fall to make it even better.
Their favorite assignment? Find the best book title in the library!
The first thing people notice? It is much more open and inviting.
What have we noticed? Younger students are way more curious about exploring the books!
Thanks to PTA for funding our new clear bookshelves!
Wellness Wing
Cold and flu season is already upon us. Please make sure you keep your child at home if they had a fever or vomiting within 24 hours. Be sure to call the school to report their absence.
For families:
Parent/Guardian Communicable Disease Guidance Letters in each of PPS’s supported languages so families know when to keep students home due to excludable symptoms or a communicable disease.
A Family Guide: Preventing Illness and Contagious Disease in School.
Dinner Table Questions
If you could eat just one food every day for a month and nothing else, what would it be?
What is your biggest fear?
What is one way you helped another person today?
Lost & Found
Our lost and found is starting to grow! If you are missing an item, be sure to check out the South Playground fence or the lower level cubbies.
Coming Up...
- 9/20 PTA Meeting @ 6pm (online and/or in person)
- 9/27 Back to School Night @ 5:30pm
- 9/28 IB Assembly: Caring [k-2 @ 1:30pm, 3-5 @ 2:15pm]
- 10/4 Latinx Family Night
Questions? Comments? Community events? Donations?
Contact Assistant Principal Katy Vawter at kvawter@pps.net