Bulldog Bulletin

Included in this Bulldog Bulletin newsletter are the most recent updates regarding staffing at Richmond for the 2026-2027 school year. Although I do not have any finalized staffing details yet, I wanted to share with you all what was shared with our Site Council yesterday evening.

As a Richmond parent and PPS principal I am personally very saddened by the current state of public schools in Oregon, and I want to reassure you that although my advocacy did not reach as far as I had hoped this year, our team is already working on finding ways to best support our students next school year.

Although our collective advocacy at Richmond in my first two years as principal did allow us to get through the first two years of budget cuts in PPS relatively unharmed, this third year of reductions in staff is proving to be much more intense.

As you read through the info included below, please be sure to also remind each other of our staffing agreements during this difficult time. Our students are always our staff's top priority, and I would like for our community to kindly support our staff by not adding any additional hardship to this process by asking overly personal questions or seeking additional info that is not already included in this newsletter.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

-Principal Stacy Eto

Although HR is still finalizing certain staffing decisions, which impact schools, and principals are still working to organize our finalized staffing plans for next year, I wanted to share what info I have been made aware of so far.

Click here for the slides created for Richmond families.

Click here to provide feedback to Principal Eto, if you wish to, by 4pm Friday 2/20.

If you have a 5th grader attending Mt. Tabor Middle School next year, check out the attached flier!

Feb 26th, Thursday, at 7pm

Join us on zoom for the PTA general meeting!

You can hear the budget updates, exciting event plan, volunteer opportunities, and more!

ZOOM LINK

Meeting ID: 812 1589 9121

Passcode: 97214

Students (or families) are invited to retrieve their photos from the Run for Richmond Wall of Heroes in the main hallway. Please collect your photo by February 27, 2026. If you aren’t able to do this but want your photo, please email richmondptapresident@gmail.com and we will fetch it for you.

Our beloved Richmond ES community is BIG, as we all know, and many students come from areas far across the Portland Metro Area. And just how nice would it be to have a way to find out who is around in your neighborhood, and maybe exchange phone numbers for the future... right? From carpooling fixes or weekend hangs, to more emergencies where we could really use some help and collaboration like Snowpocalypse, ICE storms, even earthquakes.

So, to make that happen, we are setting up location based social groups in Konstella, a powerful tool to look up each other. These location groups are based on the 4 bus lines, 1 group covering the area east of 82nd ave, and Richmond neighborhood - meant to be used as a directory.

The attached unofficial Bus Map is to help you visualize each zones, feel free to join in the group or contact any of the below volunteering fellow parents:

• Nadja Paulissen // bus line 257 & 255 and Richmond

• Jen Stoner // bus line 225 & 258

• Amy Kyler-Yano // Zone East of 82

• Asta Garmon // General Konstella organizer

We are keeping this system fairly simple as we roll it out, but there are few things we would like you to keep in mind for keeping room for all to communicate:

Please use the group as a directory to meet each other by rough locations. But once you get connected, please take the detailed conversation to other platforms.

For communications needing secure platforms with higher data privacy, such as ICE related circumstances, we currently recommend Signal (https://signal.org)

We anticipate there will be lots of questions and suggestions to make it better - please share them with us. Help us organize this directory system better while we also keep it as simple as possible.

Yours truly,
Richmond parents

Thanks to a strong support by MigraWhistlePDX, we have now 600 Whistle kits available for all Richmond Families. These kits contain a whistle and two zines with quick breakdown on your rights and ways that you can efficiently communicate with and alert others when you see ICE activity near you.

When&Where (On Campus):

Below is a list of the various ways you can get a kit at school starting 2/17.

Front Office: anytime between 8:00 & 3:30

Rich Coffee: Tuesdays & Thursdays in the Cafeteria

After School Pick-up: Nadja Paulissen will be near door #9 from 2:30-3:00

Art4Life Richmond Pick-up: Teachers are there to hand out the kits

When&Where (By School Bus Line):

If your child(ren) taking school buses and you don't reach Richmond Campus often, there are distributing volunteers you can reach out by the Bus Line and Neighborhood groups recently created on Konstella. From the main page, select “Browse Directory”, then “Browse Social Groups” and you will find the various chat groups.

Bus 225 Area: Contact Jen Stoner

Bus 258 Area: Contact Asta Garmon

Bus 255 Area: Contact Claire Frazier

Bus 257 Area: Contact Claire Frazier (Wednesdays)

Be Mindful

Always prioritize your safety first.

Take a moment to confirm what you are witnessing.

The goal is to alert, not to provoke.

------------------

Post written by Richmond parents group

Posted by Richmond BBC in support of Richmond parents group

We’re bringing back the Japanese Meal Package as part of the ONK annual benefit!

For years, this benefit has been powered by parents sharing their talents, and together we’ve raised around $1,500 each year.

My friend Jess Hisamoto and I are passionate about cooking and would love to continue offering this package, but we need help covering the ingredient costs.

Our goal is to raise $500 for ingredients. Anything counts and truly makes a difference.

If you’d like to contribute, please Venmo: @Esther-Noma

Here’s a quote from last year’s winner.

“Our whole family loved this! We anticipated the meal each month with excitement. It gave us an opportunity to learn more about Japanese culture through delicious food and stories. Esther and Jess are excellent cooks and took care to share unique tidbits about their tasty creations. Any family would be lucky to have this experience.” -Kelly Anderson & Scott Shlaes

Thank you so much for supporting our community!

We are excited to announce that we will welcome 11 new interns coming to the JDLI program in April, 2026! There will be 8 interns at Richmond ES and 3 interns at Mt. Tabor MS!

If you and your family are interested in hosting one of them, feel free to contact Haruka Takanuma, intern coordinator, at haruka.takanuma@oyanokai.org with your questions, concerns, or anything!

Saturday March 7th from 4 - 6 pm

Interested in learning more about the ins and outs of hosting an intern? Want a casual no pressure opportunity to learn a bit more and ask your personal situation specific questions? Join us on Saturday March 7th from 4 - 6 pm for an informal gathering to discuss our host family / intern program. The gathering will include fresh pizza from dueling ovens so you will be well fed while you learn more. Kiddos are absolutely welcome and encouraged to join as well.

Please RSVP to bennett.frazier@oyanokai.org by March 5th so we can be sure to have enough food. The address for the SE Portland party location will be shared with the RSVP list via email.

Join us for a pizza night supporting our 5th graders! On Tuesday, 2/24/2026, dine in, order takeout, or delivery from Pizzeria Otto between 11 AM – 9 PM, and a portion of proceeds will help fund the Cultural Exchange Trip to Japan.

📍 Two Locations:

• 6708 NE Sandy Blvd · (971) 373-8348

• 7122 SE Foster Rd · (971) 279-5077

Can’t join us for a meal? Gift cards count all day!

Order: https://squareup.com/gift/DFBJ67A21BJSS/order

Thank you for supporting our students — every order brings them closer to Japan!

This online auction is open to EVERYONE - no ticket to the benefit necessary. The bidding will begin Friday at 12:00 AM and will close Sunday at 11:59 PM. See you there!

Oya No Kai Annual Benefit 2026

onk.tofinoauctions.com

Weekend 1: May 15 - 17

Weekend 2: May 22 - 25

Love the Oregon coast? Want to connect with other Japanese Dual Language Program families? A Westwind weekend is the perfect way to get to know families across the program, from kindergarten through high school.

Go to oyanokai.org/westwind/ to watch a short video and learn more about Westwind weekends.