The Owl 10/18/2023
Education Town Hall is Next Week
The ISP Educational Leadership Team (ELT) would like to invite you to its first Education Town Hall of the year. Education Town Halls allow you to pose your questions or comments about any part of the academic program of the International School of Portland. The Town Hall will be held VIRTUALLY.
Education Town Hall
Tuesday, October 24th, 5:30 – 6:30pm
The ISP ELT team consists of: Bodo Heiliger, Head of School; Maria Abad, Head of Early Childhood; Jason Johnston, Head of Elementary; Paula Cano, International Baccalaureate PYP Coordinator; Erin Porter, Head of Student Support; and Lauren Reggero-Toledano, Instructional Coach.
Important Campus Reminders (Again)
To help ensure that the school day runs smoothly and safely for all, PLEASE remember the following processes.
PARENT VOLUNTEERS OR CLASS VISITORS
All student family members must check in to the Stearns Hall or Hilltop front desk prior to starting a campus volunteer shift, meeting, or visiting a classroom. It is very important that we understand who is on campus.
MORNING DROP OFF & LATE ARRIVALS
- The Kinder-5th Grade Carline curbside drop off ends at 8am. If you are late, please park and come to Hilltop building to check your child in.
- ***If arriving late, please do not leave your child at the Hilltop gate, Learners Hall, or outside their classroom building unattended***
- If your student goes to their classroom without checking in, they will be sent back down to reception to check in.
- Please mark late arrivals in SchoolPass so that all appropriate parties are notified. Please do NOT email the teacher; they are working and do not regularly have access.
- After 8am, no staff will be at curbside to assist. They need to go back inside and start their days teaching and supporting students!
EARLY PICKUP
If you are picking up your student before regular dismissal time, please notify the school at least TWO HOURS prior to their pick up time.* With proper notice, we can help you by making sure that your child is ready and waiting for you at either Hilltop reception or Stearns Hall (depending upon grade)! If you arrive unannounced, it is often challenging and disruptive to locate and remove your student from class activities. *Family emergencies excluded.
DISMISSAL
The regular school day ends at 3:00pm on all days except for Wednesday, where the day ends at 2:00pm. Please pick up your child by 3:30pm (2:30pm on Wednesdays), unless they are enrolled in Global Kids.
It’s Time for Oregon Battle of the Books!
Calling 3rd-5th graders: the wait is over. It’s OBOB Time! Oregon Battle of the Books is a voluntary reading motivation competition. Teams of students read (or listen to) books from the OBOB book list and engage in exciting “battles” that test comprehension. If interested:
Step 1: Before signing your child up, be sure to read this fact sheet for details about how OBOB will work this year at ISP, where to find the books, team formation, etc.
Step 2: Click here to register students by November 5.
Students will be able to include names of previously identified teammates OR can request to be on a team that we create for you. There will be a place for everyone who wants to participate!
Step 3: Ready, get set, READ! More info will come by email after registration. Official teams will be announced on November 13.
Annual Costume Parade!
Get ready for the annual Fall Costume Parade! This beloved tradition will be held on Tuesday, October 31 from 8:30-9:30am.
Students, Families, and Staff are encouraged to dress up! Please, no weapons of any kind (light sabers are weapons), no bloody wounds or very scary masks, and no costumes that drag on the ground or otherwise interfere with walking. Students can put on masks or long capes ONLY for the parade and must take them off again after the parade.
No candy, please!
Parent Community Events – Your Input Needed!
The Parent Network’s Community Events team wants to hear from YOU! What kinds of events do you want to see and participate in? What sort of Parent Learning inititiaves are you interested in? How do you want to participate? Or do you just want to go to something that has pizza?
Help guide our events for this year by taking the 2023-24 Parent Community Events Survey. We’ve listed a lot of top of mind topics, as well as a place for you to write in what we didn’t think of! You can even do so anonymously. Thanks for your help!
MySchool App Directories: Search by Zip Code or Homeroom Teacher!
Did you know that MySchool App has Directories?
Parents have Parent, Student, and Faculty & Staff Directories. You can search for other community members in the database and view their “Contact Card ‘ information. You can search by Homeroom teacher and zip code.
MySchool App is password-protected, and this information is only accessible by current ISP families, Faculty, and Staff. Login here: https://intlschool.myschoolapp.com/
***IMPORTANT! You can see much more information about your own family members on their Contact Cards than other parents can see, such as your child’s emergency contacts and school-assigned email address.***
“MY CONTACTS”
The My Contacts feature allows you to save a list of the people that you contact most frequently, thereby creating a personal address book. For example, you can add your child’s teachers to your My Contacts page.
PRIVACY SETTINGS
You have your own Privacy Settings page, which can be accessed by navigating to your name in the upper right corner and selecting Settings > Privacy.
REMEMBER: Please do NOT delete your information from MySchool App. School personnel needs to be able to contact you. Use the Privacy Settings to prevent what others can view about you.
On this page, in the General Settings section, you can determine what information that teachers, parents, and admins can view about you. By default, information that parents can see about other students and teachers is quite limited.
In the Directory Settings section, a user can determine what information others can view about them in the school Directories. A user has two options:
1) Include my name but do not include any other information about me
– If you choose this option, only your name will appear in the community directories. ***Please keep in mind that it will be very difficult for other parents to invite you and your child to playdates, birthday parties, and other events if no contact information is shown!***
2) Include my name and use my General Settings for what other people should see about me
– If you choose this option, the community directories will display the information that you published in the General Settings section
We hope that you find this information useful!