Two anonymous donors have generously established the 2011 Annual Fund Challenge. They will match gifts up to $35,000 to generate new dollars to the Annual Fund and increase participation from community members.

$15,000 to go!

You have the opportunity to DOUBLE YOUR DONATION and DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT. What a remarkable way to make a difference now for our current students! It’s easy!

Make your tax-deductible gift online, by telephone to 503-297-1894 ext 310, or by mail to 8825 SW Barnes Rd, Portland OR 97225.

You also can help by spreading the word. Tell five friends or family members how important Catlin Gabel has been to you and how they too can double their dollars by making a donation. Learn more about the challenge. Thank you!

Great schools don’t just happen. We make them so.
The Catlin Gabel 2010-11 Annual Fund
Will you rise to the Challenge?

Nineteen students and three chaperones from Martinique are hosted by the Middle School. French language students provide the homestays.

Fourteen students and two teachers from the Gifu Kita School visit Catlin Gabel and stay with school families from January 3 through 10. This is the 20th anniversary year of our exchange program with our sister school in Japan. Be sure to say hello, or, rather, konichiwa!

Meeting host student for the first time

Getting acquainted with a host student

Our guests introduced themselves to the entire Upper School student body at a special assembly

January 15 sorting party canceled

Please collect children's and youth books to contribute

We are excited to announce the next CG Service Corps activity: a book drive benefiting Bienestar, a nonprofit housing and service organization serving Washington County’s Hispanic community.

Upper School students have been volunteering at the Bienestar homework club for three years. Our book drive will further cement a wonderful partnership and boost Bienestar’s mission to educate the migrant labor population they serve.

Cross-divisional teams of Catlin Gabel students and faculty-staff will collect and presort donated books between January 10 and 21.

Parents, students, faculty-staff, and alumni are invited to two sorting parties in the barn on Saturday, January 22.

We will load books onto the retired Rummage truck for delivery to Bienestar.

Details about book drop locations to follow.

“If there’s one thing Catlin Gabel families have in abundance, it’s books!”
—Service Corps Core Steering Committee

Catlin Gabel’s diversity committee is pleased to launch cross-divisional parent affinity groups in January. We start modestly this year with three affinity groups for adoptive families, families of color, and lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender people and their families. In addition to parents, participants may include school leaders, diversity committee members, and interested faculty and staff members.

Your children’s emotional safety and your comfort in our community are vitally important to us. Catlin Gabel is a place where every student should thrive and every family should feel connected. We seek your input and involvement to ensure that those core values are realized.

Affinity groups can play a variety of roles in a school like Catlin Gabel, and they have been effective on our campus in the past. At the outset, the meetings will be social events for parents to meet and talk about common interests or concerns. Later, each affinity group will schedule monthly or bi-monthly meetings that will include specific agenda items determined by the group or suggested by the school. Ultimately, we will ask the affinity groups to identify what Catlin Gabel might do differently or better. Your thoughts, especially specific recommendations, are an important source of feedback that will help inform how we can improve inclusivity and further develop our cultural competency as a community.

In the spring we will form a diversity committee that includes parents from each of the affinity groups as well as other interested community members. Paul Andrichuk, chair of the faculty-staff diversity committee, will facilitate this parent diversity committee, which will regularly update the administrative leadership and the PFA.

We seek affiliated parents to attend the affinity group meetings. Follow-up meetings will be scheduled by the people attending the initial meetings.

Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Families Affinity Group

Thursday, January 6, at 7 p.m.
Beginning School Well
Facilitators: Sue Phillips, US librarian, and Mary Foulk, annual giving officer

Families of Color Affinity Group

Tuesday, January 11, at 7 p.m.
Beginning School Well
Facilitator: Zalika Gardner, 2nd grade teacher and alumna

Adoptive Families Affinity Group

Thursday, January 13, at 7 p.m.
Beginning School Well
Facilitators: Astrid Dabbeni, executive director of AdoptionMosaic, and Nance Leonhardt, US art teacher

If you have questions or concerns, please contact Paul Andrichuk. Questions about the specific affinity groups can be directed to individual facilitators.
 

The Eagles beat St. Mary's of Medford, 1-0, in double overtime.

» Read the Oregonian story

Jubilant Eagles celebrate their double overtime victory

When school does not open in the morning or opens late due to inclement weather, we notify the media before 6:45 a.m. and the school website is updated.

We do not notify the media when school runs on a normal schedule. However, we will post a news flash on the Catlin Gabel website alerting families that we are open when conditions are uncertain. The school avoids mid-day weather closures whenever possible.

Catlin Gabel does not necessarily follow the decisions made by Portland Public or Beaverton Public schools because our students come from a wide geographic area.

Catlin Gabel bus service may be suspended even when school is open. We will post a news flash as soon as the decision about buses is made. If the buses are canceled in the morning, they are canceled in the afternoon regardless of weather improvements.

Lark Palma and facilities director Eric Shawn make the decision to close school or delay opening based on conditions on campus and throughout the Metro area. The safety of students is our primary concern. Parents should make personal weather-related safety decisions for their families. If it does not seem safe where you are, keep your children at home. If conditions deteriorate in your neighborhood during the day, you may pick up your children early (making sure to notify the division administrative assistant).