Incident at Lunch Today
Dear Cleveland community,
Earlier today, a group of young people were reportedly chasing one of our students outside our building during lunch. The student ran inside to seek help, and school staff called 911. We confiscated a kitchen knife that was in his possession and quickly deescalated the situation. No one was hurt.
My main priority as principal is to ensure a safe learning environment for every Cleveland student and staff member, and my administration and I work hard each day to maintain a school culture that promotes mutual respect for everyone’s physical and emotional well-being. Threatening, intimidating, and bullying behavior is not tolerated at our school. The Portland Police Bureau are currently investigating the incident to determine who exactly was involved in the altercation outside the building, and we will be following all existing policies and procedures in handling this incident and its aftermath.
Several students witnessed today’s incident and might have been upset by what they saw. If anyone would like to talk to a trusted adult in the coming days, please reach out to a member of our student support team:
Jennifer Van Kopp, counselor, jvankopp@pps.net
Heidi Tolentino, counselor, htolenti@pps.net
Neil Gibson, counselor, ngibson@pps.net
Nick Yoder, counselor, nyoder@pps.net
Amanda Weber-Welch, counselor, aweberwelch@pps.net
Michelle Hardaway, social worker, mhardaway@pps.net
Alexandra Roth, school psychologist, aroth1@pps.net
Lia Gelrod, school psychologist, lgelrod@pps.net
Charles Hunter, student success advocate, chuntersr@pps.net
If you have information about this incident or anything they think could pose a threat to student safety, please call our main office at (503) 916-5120. You can also contact the SafeOregon tip line via text or phone at 844-472-3367; by email at tip@safeoregon.com; or you can download the SafeOregon app.
I can always be reached at jwadkins@pps.net if you wish to discuss this further.
Sincerely,
JoAnn Wadkins
Principal
