Bulldog Bulletin

Thank you all so much for your incredibly generous donations!

We raised a total of $37,946! Our students were thrilled!

Our students had the best time with their friends, and many of them made a high-five line beside the track during their recess breaks so they could loudly cheer on their peers who were running by. It was a beautiful day full of joy, laughter, and a sense of community. Thank you to all of the Richmond families and friends who came out to cheer on our students. Your love and support for our students was deeply appreciated.

I also want to send a special shout out to Richmond parent Megan Chouinard for designing the adorable new Richmond t-shirts that our students and staff got to wear during the special event. We will also get to wear them during Field Day in the spring. Thank you so much, Megan!

This is a friendly reminder that Early Release days are usually fun for students, but the day after can be quite challenging because changes in the schedule can be difficult for most kids.

Please remind your students that we have two full days of school left and create a family plan for incentivizing your student's ability to finish strong this week. Getting lots of rest tonight and reviewing your arrival and dismissal plans for tomorrow can also help with having a smooth Thursday.

Thank you for helping us maintain a calm and predictable schedule for our students this week.

I wanted to give parents a heads up that since PPS started offering free breakfast and lunch to all students, we have had a large increase in students who access breakfast at school.

Although access to free meals is a wonderful thing, we are also experiencing a much higher volume of students who are chronically 10-15 minutes late to class each morning because breakfast has also become a social activity for many students.

Please talk to your child at home about your family's expectations for eating breakfast at school and arriving to class on time. We have a fairly large group of K-5 students who regularly eat in the office, and when I ask if their parents know they're late to class most days, they tend to get wide-eyed, then bolt to class. 😅

Here are a few important details to discuss with your child:

• Do you want your child to eat breakfast at school each morning? If not, parents will need to establish those expectations at home. Our staff cannot deny a student's access to breakfast or lunch at school.
• Should your child go straight to class from breakfast at 7:52 (1st bell) or 8:00 (tardy bell)? When students arrive late and need a school breakfast to start their day, we allow them to eat in the main office after 8:00. However, we are starting to send students to class more quickly when they are using breakfast as a way to avoid class (e.g. they arrived to the cafeteria at 7:48 but they're still eating breakfast in the office at 8:05).

Although lunch time is also a social time for students, breakfast after 8:00 should only be reserved for students who truly need it. Class begins at 8:00 and lots of important learning happens at the start of each day.

Thank you for ensuring that your student is meeting your morning arrival expectations each day.

Our first Black Student Union (BSU) meeting was a huge success! Shout out to our school health assistant and BSU advisor, Toby Barrow, and our community volunteers for making this meeting a fun and inclusive experience for our students.

Our kindergarteners and newest BSU members were jumping for joy as they talked to me about their first BSU meeting. My heart melted to see so many of them holding hands and sitting together this week. Representation matters and I am so grateful for our staff and families who take the time to ensure that our students have affinity spaces that foster their sense of belonging at Richmond.

Make sure you order your delicious pies for the holiday season. Today is the last day to order them!

Click here for the online order form.

The PTA Harvest Festival is a great opportunity to have some Fall fun with our school community. The costume parade is also a favorite activity for our students!

There is no school on Thursday, October 29th and Friday, October 30th. These are teacher grading and planning days for the Quarter 1 report cards that will be available to Richmond families on ParentVue after 8:00am on Monday, November 16th.

Update on submitting your student's attendance via ParentVue

Please choose the option "All Day" for type of absence, even if they will come in late or leave early. The office will update attendance accordingly. Apologies if you have updated in the past and still received the robo attendance call, this is the way around that for now!

PTA General meeting Thursday, 10/22/26 @ Rich Coffee! Come vote on the budget, new board members, give feedback on our 2026-27 goals, all while socializing and enjoying coffee and donuts.

Click here to sign up as a volunteer!

*Do you have Middle or High schoolers to help on the day? Sign up here!

Presale open NOW!!! Buy your tickets even if you aren't able to attend the Harvest Festival. Winners will be texted. All proceeds go to the 5th Grade Japan Trip.

Green Team is hosting a Halloween-themed Buy Nothing station at the Harvest Festival on October 24th.

To celebrate the spooky season, our special category is Halloween costumes and decorations. Pass on your outgrown costumes and do some last minute costume shopping to get ready for the big day!

As always, feel free to bring your Richmond and Oya No Kai gear, Japanese ephemera, and kiddo rain gear and shoes to share.

To ensure this remains sustainable for the organizers, please only bring items that fit within the listed categories!

Join Richmond parents for a group viewing of Beyond Behaviorism to explore how connection, collaboration, and neuroscience can help us better understand and support our children. This is a 3-hour Zoom presentation by Guy Stephens (founder of Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint), organized by FACT Oregon. We’ll wrap up with a brief in-person discussion to share our takeaways. Light refreshments will be provided.

More information can be found here!

Date: November 7th, 2026
Time: 8:30am - 1:00pm
Location: 2601 NE Glisan St, Portland
Questions? Contact Monica (404.824.4432) or Hillery (818.517.4382)

Please sign up here!

Do you want to belong? Join the Richmond PTA! We are the parents who make things happen. We are the parents who support our kids and staff. We are the parents who support each other.

This is our annual membership drive and you can belong to PTA for $17 for the year. In addition to the swagger of being a "Richmond PTA card-carrying-member" you will also have a voice in important issues like our annual budget, vote on PTA leadership, and vote on new processes to make our organization better.

If you are interested in joining, please fill out this membership form and then pay your dues using the Square Space page.

We will see you all at Harvest Fest with some fresh new ONK gear for sale.

Register your family for a 2026-2027 ONK Membership to directly support the JDLI’s programs and activities, Oya No Kai’s advocacy efforts as we address the benefits of language immersion, academic exchanges, and cultural literacy across all of Portland Public School’s Dual Language Immersion programs. Plus... you get first dibs on Kurabu registration and its tax deductible! Register now or ask us about membership at Harvest Fest.

Calling all 5th grade parents to volunteer for roles for the 5th Grade Japan Trip. Specifically we need volunteers to fill the 5th Grade Trip Parent Lead and the Cultural Series lead. Email Maddie Leadbetter (maddie.leadbetter@oyanokai.org) for more info.