Kellogg Middle School News

¿Necesita traducción? Haga clic en el enlace "Translate" en la parte superior de este boletín y seleccione su idioma.

Bạn có cần dịch không? Nhấp vào liên kết "Translate" trên đầu bản tin này và chọn ngôn ngữ của bạn.

您需要翻译吗？单击本新闻通讯顶部的“Translate”链接并选择您的语言。

Вам нужен перевод? Нажмите на ссылку «Translate» в верхней части этого информационного бюллетеня и выберите свой язык.

Happy Monday Kellogg Community!

We are thrilled to welcome our students and families back for the 2026–2027 school year! We hope your summer provided opportunities to rest, spend time with loved ones, explore new places, and enjoy the moments that make this season special. As we begin a new school year together, we look forward to reconnecting with our community and creating a year filled with learning, growth, belonging, and joy.

Although students have been away, the Kellogg building has remained active and full of energy. At the end of June, teachers and staff gathered from around the district in the building for important meetings and planning as we prepared for the year ahead. Throughout July, Kellogg hosted the K–5 Summer Acceleration Academy, which brought students and educators into every part of our building. We are grateful to everyone who helped make these programs and preparations possible.

As the year approaches, there are some important returning dates to keep in mind for families. Students will officially return to Kellogg next week. Sixth-grade students will begin on Wednesday August 26th, August 26, and all students will return on Thursday August 27. We are excited to welcome our newest students, reconnect with returning students, and begin the new school year together!

A few details are provided below regarding programming, school start up, community events and much more. In the remainder of this edition of the Kellogg Community News, please find the following big topics:

• Kellogg Community events and happenings,
• Kellogg Family Compact,
• Outdoor School Information,
• The Counselors Corner,
• Back to School Community Night,
• School traffic circulation maps and asks from families,
• Bus routes,
• A message from the office staff,
• and much more...

Thank you families. We are excited to see your student next week!

Sincerely,

Dr. Dan Carpenter

Principal

Kellogg Middle School

Welcome to the 2026–2027 School Year!

Welcome to an exciting new school year! This will be my fourth year serving as Assistant Principal at Kellogg, and I am truly honored and grateful to continue serving this wonderful school community.

Kellogg is a special place because of the strong relationships, dedication, and support of our students, families, staff, and community members. As we begin the 2026–2027 school year, I would like to invite everyone to become more involved in our school community.

There are many ways to get involved and support our students throughout the school day. We especially welcome volunteers who can help provide supervision and monitor support before school, during lunch, and after school.

Your presence helps us create a safe, welcoming, and positive environment for all students. Volunteers can support staff by helping supervise students, monitoring common areas and activities, assisting with transitions, and encouraging positive behavior.

I look forward to working together to make this school year a successful, positive, and memorable one for all of our students.

Welcome back, Kellogg! Let’s make 2026–2027 our best year yet!

With appreciation,

Claudia McClellan

Assistant Principal

Kellogg Middle School

• August 26th, 6th Grade Day at Kellogg, 9:15 am - 4:00 pm
• August 27th, All Students Return to Kellogg, 9:15 am - 4:00 pm

• September 7th, No School, Labor Day
• September 8th through September 11th, Intent to Campaign for Student Council Forms Due
• September 9th, STOPPS Bus Drill, 9:00 - 9:15 am
• September 10th, Back to School Night, 5:00 - 7:00 pm
• September 11th, Sixth Grade Mixer (Dance), 5:00 - 6:30 pm, Cafe
• September 16th, Early Release Schedule, Release at 1:45 pm
• September 18th, Hispanic Heritage Pep Assembly, 3:15 - 4:00 pm, Gym
• September 24th, Midterm Progress Reports
• September 25th, Club Day Schedule
• September 28th, Student Council Vote, Advisory
• September 29th, Student Council Meeting, Advisory, 2nd Floor Commons

As many of you have heard, Portland Public Schools is facing a significant, multiyear budget shortfall. While our academic programs, curriculum, instructional materials, and classroom staffing remain essential priorities, the budget reductions have made it more difficult to fund many of the activities and experiences that help students feel connected to school.

Students come to school to learn, but they also thrive when they feel that they belong. A positive school climate is built through relationships, friendship, shared experiences, celebrations, and the fun, sometimes silly moments that make middle school memorable. These experiences help students feel respected, engaged, and excited to be part of the Kellogg community.

To support these efforts, Kellogg uses Student Body Funds. These funds help provide opportunities and experiences beyond the classroom, such as student activities, school celebrations, games, refreshments at dances, and items for the student store. Student Body Funds are not provided through federal, state, or district funding; they are supported through contributions from families, caregivers, community members, and community partners.

Our Student Body Fund balance is gradually declining, so throughout the year we will occasionally invite families and community members who are able and interested to contribute. If you would like to make a donation, any amount is appreciated. Please know that giving is completely optional, and we recognize that families have different financial circumstances. Participation, encouragement, and involvement in our school community are valuable contributions as well.

If you are able and moved to support Kellogg’s school-climate efforts, donations can be made through SchoolPay. The link will direct you to SchoolPay → General Donations, where you may enter the amount you wish to contribute.

To help ensure that the funds can be used flexibly for student experiences, please include the following designation with your donation:

“These funds are for Principal Dr. Carpenter’s discretionary use for students at Kellogg Middle School.”

In September, our Student Council will form and begin developing its own fundraising priorities and ideas for supporting the Associated Student Body. We will share more information about those efforts in October as the group gets underway.

Thank you for helping us create a Kellogg community where students feel connected, valued, and proud to belong.

We will be working on surveying families for input to the Kellogg Family Compact. We will work with our Site Council and PTSA to begin these conversations. Our hope is to have a new Family Compact for our November parent teacher conferences. This important document is an agreement between families and the Kellogg Community. All of this information is taken from the Family Guide.

The link provided here is last year's Family Compact for your review. This can provide a starting point for conversations about what we want our new Family Compact to look like.

Families can find our Kellogg Middle School Student & Family Guide here. The guide outlines and describes what families can expect from the staff at Kellogg including student rights, our values, student expectations, the bell schedules, attendance expectations, grading and academic programs, school climate, a staff directory and much more. When you have time please check over the guide to ensure your student is prepared for school.

Welcome to the new school year! We are so excited to have our students back in the building soon.

As we prepare for a great year ahead, our counseling team is working diligently to finalize student schedules over the next couple of weeks. If you happen to see a draft of your student’s schedule online right now, please keep in mind that it is subject to change as we balance classes and complete final adjustments.

Due to the high volume of requests during this time, we kindly ask for your patience as we work through our inbox. Please rest assured that we are moving as quickly as possible to respond to every family.

Meet Your Counseling Team: We are thrilled to serve your students this year! To help streamline communication, student caseloads are divided as follows:

• Ms. Scantling: 8th Grade & 6th Grade (Last names A–Mai)

• Ms. Slack: 7th Grade & 6th Grade (Last names Map-Z)

Meet your new School Social Worker: We are excited to introduce Myra Capistan, our new School Social Worker. Myra is joining our team from the McDaniel community where she worked for several years building connections with the community and a support network for families. Please reach out to Myra if your family needs anything. She will be around and accessible for your needs!

Thank you so much for your patience, support, and partnership as we get everything ready for an incredible school year. We look forward to connecting with you soon!

School traffic circulation maps are visual representations that outline the planned flow of vehicular and pedestrian traffic around a school campus during drop-off, pick-up, and other times when school-related traffic is high. These maps are designed to help parents, students, school staff, and drivers understand the most efficient and safe routes for entering, exiting, and navigating within the school premises.

Our circulation maps also include nearby Park and Walk locations. These are sites near the school where families can park or students can be dropped off and walk the remainder of the distance to the school site, reducing car traffic in front of the school and allowing you to skip waiting in the drop-off line while students start the day with healthy physical activity, arriving at school more ready to learn. Some Park and Walk locations are at nearby parks, while others encourage families to use on-street parking within the school neighborhood.

Please utilize Park and Walk locations and avoid dropping off and picking up students at the front of the school along 69th Avenue or in the parking lot.

Please do not pull into and wait for your student in the staff lot. We have buses that are on a schedule to pick up, drop off and run to other schools for the same process after their route at Kellogg.

Action Item

• See image below or click here for Kellogg's circulation map.

Please call PPS Transportation Services at 503-916-6901 or email at transportation@pps.net if you have any questions.

To streamline attendance reporting, we are rolling out a new attendance Google form!

This form can be used in lieu of calling for reporting full day absences and tardies. You can still call 503-916-5707 to report an absence or tardy as well!

Beginning of year packets will be going home with your student during the first week of school, featuring paperwork that must be returned to their advisory teacher or the front office.

If you are uncertain about how to check on your student's grades, missing work and or class work progress, here is a quick how to resource that might be able to help.

If you have not already activated ParentVue, please see the guide linked here for instructions on activating your account! If you need an Activation Key, please stop by the front office.

There is a new ParentVue app for mobile devices! Please see the following links for guides on installing the new app, and make sure to uninstall the old one.

• Android
• iPhone

Each year parents and/or guardians are asked to review and update the information on file for their student. This information can be reviewed, edited and submitted online via PPS ParentVUE.

Benefits of verifying online via ParentVUE

• Complete yearly verification of your student’s information
• You can update your communication and language preferences
• Ensures your school has the most up to date information
• Saves paper and time

1. Hispanic Heritage Month at Kellogg

• We have a month of celebrating our Hispanic Heritage in the Kellogg Community starting with Advisory lessons. We would appreciate any help families might have with authentic activities we could do with our students. Advisory is each day, 4th period.
• Hispanic Heritage Month Pep Assembly is September 18th in our gym from 3:15 - 4:00 pm. Assemblies honor culture with activities, dances, performances and music. We would appreciate any contributions your family might want to provide in performing.

2. Sixth Grade Mixer

• The mixer is a dance and activities evening on September 11th from 5:00 - 6:30 pm.
• We are in need of parent volunteers. You can sign up here.

Hello Kellogg families!!! We hope you had a restful summer break. Your SUN team has been hard at work planning fun clubs, workshops, and community events for the upcoming season, so stay tuned!

Here are some lunchtime and after school clubs that we're planning for fall:

• Latino Club
• Basketball
• Soccer
• Garden Club
• Chess Club
• Technology Club
• Drama Club
• Art Club
• Upcycling Club

* Clubs may be subject to change based on instructor availability.

We know that kids can forget to bring home forms and miss out on cool opportunities as a result, so we have our REGISTRATION FORMS linked here! This way, your student can have a seamless transition into our lunch time and after school clubs, without the anxiety of being uncertain they've signed up.

• English Registration Form
• Spanish Registration Form

Reminder: these registration forms are mandatory for SUN participation--we cannot have your student participate in a SUN club without it for liability purposes.

As always, you can contact the SUN Site Manager, Cristina Flores, at floresc@latnet.org or at 503-839-0672. You can also contact the SUN Extended Day Assistant, Antares Argueta at arguetaa@latnet.org. We're here to support you!

Portland Public Schools Nutrition Services is happy to announce all students will be able to enjoy breakfast and lunch at no charge for the 2026-27 school year. One breakfast and one lunch will be provided to all students at no charge each day and families do not need to submit a free and reduced-price meal application.

Due to this change in services, our kitchen teams will no longer be able to take cash or check payments. If students bring their lunch from home and want milk, they must choose two other foods – such as a fruit and vegetable – at no charge. Milk can no longer be purchased separately.

Breakfast and lunch menus can be found on the PPS Nutrition Services website.

During the 2026-2027 school year ...

• School officially starts at 9:15 AM and dismisses at 4:00 PM.

Throughout the school year there are Staff Meeting Days and Early Release Days.

• On Staff Meeting Days, school officially starts at 9:30 AM and dismisses at 4:00 PM.
• On Early Release Days, school officially starts at 9:15 AM and dismisses at 1:45 PM.

Click here for the 2026-2027 District calendar.

• Staff Meeting Days are noted with **.
• Early Release Days are noted with a clock icon.

At Kellogg we are proud of our schoolwide expectations as they provide our students with safe, structured, and productive learning environments. Please take the time to review some of our expectations below.

Cell Phones and Technology Devices

Cell phones and all personal technologies (e.g. apple watches, gaming devices, wireless headphones, Bluetooth speakers, etc.) are expected to be off and away during the school day. Students are expected to keep cell phones and technology devices turned off and put away in their lockers. Personal technologies and cell phones should not be on student's person in the hallways, restrooms, and at lunch recess. If a student is spotted with a cell phone or technology device, it will be immediately confiscated and taken to the front office. Students with repeated cell phone or technology violations to this expectation will be placed on individualized cell phone and technology plan.

Bags and Backpacks

In alignment with many other middle schools in the District, all bags and backpacks must be stored in lockers during the school day. Backpacks clutter classroom spaces and items are frequently lost or stolen unless they are stored safely in a locker. Students will use their binders to carry their learning materials throughout the school day.

Learning Logs

To help students stay organized and keep track of important dates and deadlines, students will be issued a Learning Log. Be sure to check your student's Learning Log regularly to stay up-to-date with your student's assignments, tests, and other announcements. Learnings Logs will also serve as the student's hall pass when students leave the classroom during non-transition times. It is critical that students do not lose their Learning Log.

Toys and Valuable Items

Students should leave all toys, valuable items, and any item that can cause safety concerns or distractions at home. Leaving these items at home will ensure items are not lost or stolen.

Closed Campus

Kellogg is a closed campus. All visitors must check-in at the front office. Students must be signed out and picked up by a parent or guardian with ID before 3:45 in order to leave campus before dismissal time. Additionally, our school will not accept DoorDash, Uber Eats, or other deliveries to students. Parents and guardians are welcome to drop off lunch items for their students at any time.

Student safety, well-being, and learning are our top priorities. If you ever need to speak to a teacher, counselor, administrator, or any staff member, please call the front office or e-mail the individual directly. Unannounced meetings are often difficult to accommodate as school staff have tight and busy schedules. Right before school, right after school, and lunch times are the busiest times in schools as most staff members are on duty to ensure student safety. Thank you for your support and understanding!

Facebook

Twitter (X) - Working on it

TikTok - Working on it