TUBMAN TRIBUNE

HTMS community, as we get closer to the Winter Break, I wanted to share this communication from the district in regards to student attendance. If you know your child will not be at school for any reason, on any day, you can always excuse your child by calling the office at 503.916.5630 or through ParentVue.

Please help me welcome our new Drama teacher, Allan Moore. We are very excited about continuing to grow our Drama program and believe Allan can help us do that. We would also like to thank Dominic Damiani, our previous Lead Custodian, who has retired after serving in Portland Public Schools for over 14 years and at HTMS for 5 years.

I also wanted to share some of the things that we’ve been working on as a staff as we continue to establish, build and roll out new systems. Our attendance team (ASERT) is working on a new attendance system to identify students who have additional needs while also strengthening our Tier I systems at the classroom level. I will share this out after we return from Winter Break, when we officially roll it out with our students. We are also adjusting our discipline system which will align more closely with the district’s. We hope the adjustments end up providing more time for our School Climate Specialists (SCS) to push into classrooms to support teachers while also working with individual and small groups of students more frequently. I am also rolling out two observation evaluation tools for teachers. One is directly connected to the professional developments (PD) and expectations we have established here at HTMS for our teaching staff. Our Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) will push into classes and our staff will do peer observations to support our learning and growth as educators. The other evaluation tool will be used for mini observations specifically by administration as it is aligned to the Danielson Framework used for formal evaluations. We are implementing these tools with the goal of providing more consistent and frequent feedback to our staff which we believe will in turn grow our skills as instructors.

Our first band concert of the year will take place on Thursday, December 14th @7pm, in the HTMS cafetorium (enter through Flint doors). We are aware of calendar conflicts with our partner programs and feeder high schools since winter calendars have been adjusted. Listed below are solutions from both SEI and Grant HS to accommodate student participants and families impacted by the calendar changes:

• SEI - Students will have an additional opportunity to attend an event at Top Golf, and are asked to participate in the concert with their peers on the 14th.
• Grant 8th Grade Night - We will be offering a similar info night for band families at the beginning of February, so that students can attend the concert on the 14th.

You can find more information about the concert attached. Thank you again for your patience and support! The students are going to be fabulous and it will all be worth it:)

Concert Letter.pdf

As a reminder, all students attending the concert must be accompanied by an adult when entering.

See you Thursday night!

Friday, December 15 we will be acknowledging our Legends of the Month during grade-level assemblies. Students who are honored with the Legends of the Month award display one or more of our school expectations within our community.

Accountable - Taking responsibility for your actions.

Safe - Not causing harm to yourself or others.

Kind - Being generous, helpful and thinking about others' feelings.

We will end the day with our Frozen Fun Friday celebration - student vs. staff volleyball game...Go Legends!

We are accepting donations to enhance our Frozen Fun Friday experience. Please use the link below to sign up for a donation. Thank you for your support.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080B4BA8AE2FA6FD0-46818138-htms

Hello 8th grade students and families! You should have received an email/letter from the district last week regarding high school. If you are here at Harriet Tubman Middle School (HTMS) because it is your neighborhood middle school, your choices for high school are Grant or Jefferson, and you must actively choose one of the two, following the instructions provided by the district. If you have any issues with that, please let me know and I can assist you with making your selection. The deadline to make your selection has been extended to December 22. If you don't actively choose one, the district will choose for you.

If HTMS is not your neighborhood middle school (i.e. you are here on a transfer), you will be tagged to your neighborhood high school. If you are unsure what that is or have questions about that, please let me know.

If you are in the Mandarin Immersion Program, you are automatically tagged to Jefferson HS, to continue on with the Immersion Program. If you have questions about that, please let me know.

Please note, the deadline to apply for one of the focus option/alternative schools (Benson HS, Jefferson HS--if it is not your neighborhood school--or MLC) has also been extended to December 22. There is also a new process for this application. Parents/Guardians must have an active ParentVue account in order to apply for another school. You can find more details here, as well as the form to fill out to apply for a focus option school.

Lastly, Benson HS is having an in person 8th grade visit night on Wednesday, December 13 at 6:00 pm. Please remember that Benson HS is at the Marshall HS campus (at 3901 SE 91st Avenue), so the visit night will be at the Marshall HS campus. If you missed Benson's virtual night, the recording is available on their website under the 8th grade info banner (click on the "read more" tab).

HTMS Counselors

Ms. Drew and Ms. Newhouse

The winter break is a good time for students that are behind on the State and School required Vaccinations/Immunizations to be in school to get caught up before Exclusion Day. As a reminder, State wide Exclusion day is February 21, 2024 and that is only 72 days away. School Health services is a free and a good option for the student community to get any necessary vaccines. If you have any questions about your students Immunization status, please don’t hesitate to contact Lindsey Crider, RN or Noelle Hanks, SHA at 503-916-5630 or nhanks@mesd.k12.or.us

School Health Services Parkrose will be open during Winter Break for students' health needs.

Multnomah County’s School and Community Oral Health Program is offering Free sealants and dental screening. A dental screening is a quick look inside your child’s mouth to check the overall health of their teeth, and sealants will be placed if needed.

This service is available for all HTMS students.

What questions do you have? Please call us at 503-988-3905.

To use this FREE service please fill out the electronic permission slip at this link: Electronic Permission Form English

Para usar este servicio gratis, complete este permiso electrónico: Electronic Permission Form Spanish

Чтобы воспользоваться этой бесплатной услугой, пожалуйста, заполните электронное разрешение по этой ссылке: Electronic Permission Form Russian

Parent/teacher conferences are a great opportunity to meet your student’s teacher, and learn about how your student is doing in school. It's also a great time for you to ask questions or talk about any learning-related concerns. Creating a partnership with your child's teacher around your scholar's learning can make a big difference.

We will be holding evening conferences in January 2024 - 10, 11, 17, 18. Families can schedule a virtual meeting with teachers on January 10 and 17, 5:30p - 8:30p. In-person conferences will take place at HTMS on January 11 and 18. We look forward to seeing you either in person or Google Meet.

Families can schedule a virtual conference online at MyConferenceTIme.com/htms, beginning December 11.

Here are some helpful tips to consider when attending parent/teacher conferences:

1. Check ParentVue (grades) before your conference

2. Please have your student attend the conference.

3. You do not have to meet with every teacher. Meet with teachers where your student might need some support.

4. Conferences are 12 minutes.

Parent Teacher Conference Tips

• English

• Español (Spanish)

• Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)

• 中文 (Chinese)

• Soomaaliga (Somali)

• Русский (Russian)

Instructions and reminders about using MyConferenceTime

• Click on individual teachers to sign up or utilize the "Register for multiple time slots" link at the top of the page.

• If you want to have a mix of conferences via Zoom and in person, please do not utilize the "Register for multiple time slots" feature.

• You will receive a confirmation email when you sign up and a reminder email about your conferences the week of.

Conference Sign Up

MyConferenceTime application is open for families to begin scheduling virtual conferences.

Let us know if you have any questions by contacting the school office, (503)916-5630. We are here to help!

Join us for our next PTSA meeting

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

6-7 PM in the Tubman Library

Catch up on important news around school, learn about upcoming volunteer and fundraising opportunities, and participate in discussions around PTSA goals for the 2023-2024 school year.

Meeting Minutes - November 30, 2023

End-Of-Year-Giving

Please consider making a tax deductible donation to the HTMS PTSA to help fund resources for our community. We hope to raise $30.000 this season for new white boards for classrooms, Ignite Reading tutoring spots for students, holiday giving for families, and teacher appreciation activities.

Donations can be made online through PayPal at

https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8ZSNypdmTZ

Checks made to the Harriet Tubman Middle School PTSA can also be dropped off at the front office.

Please share with friends and family and ask your workplace about setting up monthly or matching donations. Email htmsptsapdx@gmail.com for more information.

Thank you for your support!

PTSA Officers

Rachel Oh, Phil Yien, Negar Heckscher and Mandi Hoyt-McBeth

Site Council will resume Wednesday, January 3, 2024 at the HTMS library from 4:15-5:30pm. This is an open meeting for community to listen in.

DECEMBER

14 Winter Band Concert, 7pm (all grades)

15 Student of the Month Assembly and Fun Friday

18-22 Spirit Week

19 PTSA Meeting, 6p (HTMS Library)

23 - 31 Winter break

JANUARY - 2024

1 Happy New Year

2 Return to school

3 Site Council, 4:15p

9-11 MAP Assessment, Math

10 Parent Teacher Conferences, in-person

11 Parent Teacher Conferences, virtual

11 & 12 Oregon All-State Middle School Honor Band

15 King Holiday, school closed

16-18 MAP Assessment, ELA

17 Parent Teacher Conferences, in-person

18 Parent Teacher Conferences, virtual

26 - End of Q2

26 & 27 PPS All-City Honor Band

29 Teacher Planning Day - No School