October 6, 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m

A beloved Riverdale tradition is back! Join us for a wonderful evening of community cheer, food and drinks in the beautiful McCaslin home.

600 S Greenwood Rd

$40 per person

Limit 50 attendees 

October 3, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

A beloved Riverdale tradition! The 2021 Ladies’ Stag Hike will be held at Fields Bridge Park in West Linn. This year we’ve added something NEW to the hike event…yoga!

• Sunday, October 3rd from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm
• $30 per person: includes coffee, yoga with Isabel Allen, 1.25 mile walk along the Tualatin River, followed by bag lunch provided by Healthy Habits Catering
• Lunch options will be emailed to attendees
• Fields Bridge Park: 821 Willamette Falls Dr, West Linn, OR 97068.
• Limit 25 attendees
• Masks required if mandated by county and social distancing expected

Welcome Back to School Riverdale 101

Grab a coffee and log on to the virtual PTC parent coffee Zoom meeting

Riverdale HS College Counselor, Librarian and registrar will be attendance. We may have a district board member and a foundation member pop in. Time permitting a teacher /club leader and or coach will join as well.

Check the Back to School packet or the most recent weekly parent pack email newsletter for the Zoom link or request link from rhscommunications@riverdaleptc.org

Welcome to the 2021-2022 school year! Riverdale is truly a special place. We are a small district and a close community, and we work together to enrich our children’s education. Community volunteers and participants are critical for our schools’ success, through programs like art literacy and lunch service. And our fundraising translates into tangible benefits for our students: in recent years, the PTC has been responsible for upgrading both the HS and GS libraries, buying new vehicles, enhancing the playground, and providing grants for field trips, teacher trainings, and guest speakers. This year, we held our Annual Auction virtually, for the first time ever, and raised money to support both schools’ STEAM initiatives. We cannot wait to see how the teachers put these funds to good use for our kids.

Whether this is your first year or you are a long-standing member of this community, we are happy you are here! We look forward to returning to some in-person events and, if required, adjusting creatively to ensure the safety of our children and community as we continue to connect and keep our district strong and special.

With best wishes for an amazing year ahead,

Your Riverdale Parent Teacher Club

The Riverdale Parent Teacher Clubs at both schools strive to enrich our children’s education by enhancing curriculum and activities, encouraging parent involvement, supporting student participation, and fostering communication to strengthen our community.

I have selected Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia, for our discussion on Thursday, June 24, 2021 @ 5:30pm. Synopsis is below. The meeting will be held in person and may have attendance limitation due to Covid restrictions. The PTC has an official guide to hosting in-person and I plan to follow it for everyone’s safety during the discussion from 5:30-6:30pm. Hand sanitizer and masks will be available, along with individually packaged food and drink. The waiver to attend can be found here: https://riverdaleptc.org/liability-release-2020-2021/

Please email me if you would like to be added to the Riverdale PTC Book Club list @ amber.hillman@yahoo.com. Thank you so much. 

Of Women and Salt

In present-day Miami, Jeanette is battling addiction. Daughter of Carmen, a Cuban immigrant, she is determined to learn more about her family history from her reticent mother and makes the snap decision to take in the daughter of a neighbor detained by ICE. Carmen, still wrestling with the trauma of displacement, must process her difficult relationship with her own mother while trying to raise a wayward Jeanette. Steadfast in her quest for understanding, Jeanette travels to Cuba to see her grandmother and reckon with secrets from the past destined to erupt.

From 19th-century cigar factories to present-day detention centers, from Cuba to Mexico, Gabriela Garcia’s Of Women and Salt is a kaleidoscopic portrait of betrayals–personal and political, self-inflicted and those done by others–that have shaped the lives of these extraordinary women. A haunting meditation on the choices of mothers, the legacy of the memories they carry, and the tenacity of women who choose to tell their stories despite those who wish to silence them, this is more than a diaspora story; it is a story of America’s most tangled, honest, human roots.

The Maverick Club, an official school club with PTC support for the advisor position, is for students leading in School Spirit, Student Activities and Yearbook. 

About 25 students in all grade levels are involved, meeting virtually nearly every week to brainstorm and plan activities such as a virtual pep assembly, community-building activities for advisory, welcome notes to new students, mid-term thank-you messages to RHS staff, @riverdalemavsspirit student Instagram and the 25th edition of the Riverdale High School yearbook. 

The Maverick Club is excited to plan a virtual Spring Spirit Week, for May 2-7. Students can check Community Meeting Announcements and @riverdalemavspirit for all the info.

• Dress-up Days: Maverick Pride Monday, Class Color Wednesday, PJ Day Friday
• Virtual Activities (for prizes!): Mask Photo contest, “May the 4th Be With You” Kahoot!, Senior Baby Photo Guessing Game

Feel-Good Activities: clothing and supply drive for Rose Haven, canned food drive for Neighborhood House, Staff Appreciation Messages

The Riverdale Booster Club partners with the District Athletic Department to provide a full athletics experience for all Riverdale student athletes.  The Booster Club fundraises to budget for the following expenditures, which are not covered by the general Athletics budget: 

• Health & Safety
• Basketball Tournament Hospitality
• Banners, Plaques, Trophies & School Records Boards
• Uniforms
• Team Equipment & Supplies at both school
• Coaching Clinics/Education at both schools
• Senior Athlete Recognition
• Coach Apparel
• Gym Floor Resurfacing at both schools
• Spirit Week & other promotions
• and much more!

The RHS PTC is looking for a Booster Co-Chair and Booster Committee Members for the 2021-22 school year. If interested contact rhsptc.communications@gmail.com.

Additionally, here are some other ways you can be involved with the Riverdale Booster Club:

• Purchase a Membership
• Become a Sponsor
• Volunteer with Concessions Sales
• Purchase Spirit Wear
• Volunteer at other Fundraising Events
• Attend Games and cheer on the Mavericks and Falcons!

Click here to purchase a 2021-22 Corporate Sponsorship and promote your business while helping support Riverdale athletics.

We had an incredible film and speaker panel on Tuesday that has been recorded for viewing by our wider community.  Here is the link to the Upstanders online program.

The case-sensitive login to access the link is:
Login: riverdale@indieflix.com
Password: riverdale

The Q&A Panel can be found at the top of the “Additional Materials” section on the right.  Subtitles are included and can be turned on/off on the video player progress bar where it says “CC.”  Access to the film and panel link will end on Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:59pm PST.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO THE PTC FOR THEIR GENEROUS FUNDING OF OUR COMPASSION & INCLUSION WEEK EVENTS!!!

Do you shop on Amazon regularly?  A Prime Member possibly?

Did you know that the PTC could be earning .5% of all your Amazon purchases just by you signing up for the AmazonSmile program?  It’s free to you and all you have to do is select the PTC as your charity of choice.

Simply go to AmazonSmile, “Start Shopping” and make sure to select Riverdale Parent-Teacher Club as your charity of choice. 

You can also sign up for AmazonSmile via the Amazon app too.  In the app, select the bottom right menu option, scroll down to “Programs & Features” then select AmazonSmile and follow the prompts to select Riverdale Parent-Teacher Club.

We look forward to you signing up TODAY to start earning money!

The Riverdale PTC realizes our community has questions about the PTC’s position when it comes to this year’s school board elections and we want to be very explicit about the PTC’s function. 

The Riverdale PTC, as a 501(c)(3) organization, is prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. It therefore does not endorse candidates for public office or engage in campaign activity, which means it does not express approval or disapproval for one or more candidates’ positions and/or actions or address issues raised as distinguishing candidates for a given office. While individual board members or volunteers may have personal preferences and can speak in a non-official capacity, such views do not represent the organization. 

The current school board election is no exception. The PTC commends all those in our community who wish to volunteer their time and energy to our schools. The all-volunteer Riverdale PTC remains focused on its missions: (1) at the Grade School, to enrich Riverdale’s K-8 education by enhancing curriculum activities, encouraging parent involvement, supporting student participation, and fostering communication to strengthen our community, and (2) at the High School,  to give parents the opportunity to support RHS students, faculty, and administration by working together to develop a sense of community, exchange ideas, and raise funds.  If you have specific suggestions on things we can do better in the future, we always welcome our community’s input. Please email your thoughts to: RHSPTC.communications@gmail.com (RHS) or rgscommunications@riverdaleptc.org (RGS).

Thank you!

I have selected Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, for our discussion on Thursday, May 27, 2021 @ 5:30pm. I am hopeful that the governor’s restrictions will be lifted by then and we can gather in person indoors, or that the weather will be nice enough to favor an outdoor event. The PTC has an official guide to hosting in-person and I plan to follow it for everyone’s safety during the discussion from 5:30-6:30pm.   

Please email me at amber.hillman@yahoo.com if you would like to be added to the Book Club email list. A zoom link will be provided for anyone who would like to join the discussion.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

The acclaimed Klara and the Sun is Ishiguro’s eighth novel – and his first since being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2017. The narrator is Klara, an “Artificial Friend” who observes the world around her with an android mix of intelligence and naivety. When she is chosen by a family to live with them, she must adjust her thinking – and the novel’s underlying theme of what it means to love is explored. The Observer says: “Ishiguro has written another masterpiece, a work that makes us feel afresh the beauty and fragility of our humanity”. 

The mission of the Riverdale PTC is to give parents the opportunity to support RHS students, faculty, and administration by working together to develop a sense of community, exchange ideas, and raise funds.

We cannot do this without parent involvement. Here are some of the open volunteer responsibilities associated with each position in addition to monthly meetings:

Treasurer (2):

• Paying invoices, writing checks, and making deposits of cash and checks
• Prepare annual budget
• Work closely with the HS principal to help financially support Riverdale student activities and teacher activities
• Manage monthly budget and present financial reports/updates at monthly PTC meeting
• Knowledge of Quickbooks is helpful. We are also able to train you if don’t have Quickbooks experience 
• Assist other PTC committees throughout the year with budgeting for events

Co-Booster Club (1): supports athletics by fundraising/manages apparel/supports sports activities by coordinating parent volunteers, raise school spirits, support the Mavericks and coaches as needed!

Joining the RHS PTC is a wonderful opportunity to support our students and our school. 

Please indicate your interest in helping out with particular committees and/or events using the volunteer form found here and return it to us at rhsptc.communications@gmail.com.

Please contact us so we can do onboarding and set you up for a successful 2021-2022 year.

GS/HS PTC also needs the following PTC Website Team volunteers: 

• Back-end website administrator 
• Website trainer/chair (as-needed training, overseeing the summer refresh for back-to-school, produce quarterly, website team work sessions, and dividing up the work amongst team members per prior attachment)
• Website team members (including community school/communications/spirit wear AND a few more to manage the ongoing updates/management of the website sections)

Open HS PTC BOARD POSITIONS

President
President Elect
Vice President
Communications (1)
Treasurer (2)
Booster Club (2)

We are also looking for a behind-the-scenes Administrator for the Riverdale PTC Website.

Want to be part of the PTC for 2021-2022?

Contact us by May 1 at rhsptc.communications@gmail.com

Our book pick for April is “The Education of an Idealist” by Samantha Power. Joins us on Thursday, April 29 at 5:30 p. m. Please email amber.hillman@yahoo.com for the Zoom link.

Tracing her distinctly American journey from immigrant to war correspondent to presidential Cabinet official, Samantha Power’s acclaimed memoir is a unique blend of suspenseful storytelling, vivid character portraits, and shrewd political insight. After her critiques of US foreign policy caught the eye of Senator Barack Obama, he invited her to work with him on Capitol Hill and then on his presidential campaign. When Obama won the presidency, Power went from being an activist outsider to serving as his human rights adviser and, in 2013, becoming the youngest-ever US Ambassador to the United Nations. Power transports us from her childhood in Dublin to the streets of war-torn Bosnia to the White House Situation Room and the world of high-stakes diplomacy, offering a compelling and deeply honest look at navigating the halls of power while trying to put one’s ideals into practice. Along the way, she lays bare the searing battles and defining moments of her life, shows how she juggled the demands of a 24/7 national security job with raising two young children, and makes the case for how we each can advance the cause of human dignity. This is an unforgettable account of the power of idealism—and of one person’s fierce determination to make a difference.

Watch our high school librarian, Sarah Hansen, give a message about improvements made possible thanks to generous donors to the 2020 Paddle Raise!

To support student inquiry and transform the Riverdale High School library into a Learning Commons, the library needed to update its physical space. The 2020 Auction Paddle Raise brought in $42,500 for the HS. The funds raised were used to provide: 

• Flexible seating (adding casters to floor shelves and replacing bulky furniture with modular furniture for easy reconfiguration)
• Laptop lab (redesigning single-use space to be a meeting space, classroom and lab)
• Collaborative technology (presentation screen, interactive monitors)
• Curated collection (culling and upgrading resources to be more relevant, timely)
• The space is flexible enough that the tables are set up now to allow for social distance during LIPI

Thank you to all who donated to last year’s paddle raise!

The 2021 Paddle Raise at the upcoming auction on April 10 will support STEAM improvements: science, tech, engineering, art and math.

THANK YOU SPONSORS

THANK YOU DONORS

A special thank you to all the parents who donated to the Grade Level Gift Baskets!

Kindergarten
All Kinder families – thank you!

High School

Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older black couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe.

Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another? 

Suspenseful and provocative, Rumaan Alam’s third novel is keenly attuned to the complexities of parenthood, race, and class. Leave the World Behind explores how our closest bonds are reshaped—and unexpected new ones are forged—in moments of crisis.

Please email Amber.Hillman@yahoo.com if you would like the zoom link.

Check out the new menu items starting in the New Year:

• Sweet and sour chicken on white or brown rice
• Chocolate pudding gluten-free and naturally flavored
• Clam chowder with saltine crackers
• Tomato basil soup with a grilled cheese

Order at www.orgsonline.com. School code is 213RGSOROR. You do not have to be a current GS or HS family to order — simply add whoever would like to order as a student. Delivery area is a 2 mile radius from Riverdale Grade School.

The Riverdale Book Club has selected Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, a novel by Isabel Wilkerson, for our discussion on Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. Host, Amber Hillman, hopes to find a way for us to gather, socially-distanced, at her home. If this is impossible due to Covid restrictions, the book club will convene virtually. 

In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.

Beautifully written, original, and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today. 

              Virtual Parent Speaker Series  

February 3rd 2021

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP & SOCIAL MEDIA

with Denise DeRosa
 

With flying fingers propelled with emotion, need-to-stay current, or fear of rejection, we often hit send before processing ramifications. Help your kids get back in control and make the most of social media and technology, rather than allowing addictive apps, predators, bullies, and corporate profit to overtake their lives. COS presenters are high-energy, fountains of information and captivating communicators. We share real-life stories, so no one thinks, “It won’t happen to me.” We combat technology risks by addressing the physical, social, and emotional consequences of social media. Help your children build extraordinary reputations and respectable digital dossiers. We address cyber-civility, the concept of a “digital dossier,” sexting, hate speech, anonymity, and more. 

Denise DeRosa

 Ms. DeRosa has a Master’s Degree in Communication, Culture and Technology from Georgetown University and 15 plus years of media experience at AOL, VH1 and Comedy Central. Her understanding of the cultural and societal impacts of communication technologies along with her experience as a mom inspired the development of her first workshop on parenting in the digital age. Denise founded Cyber Sensible in 2015 to provide online safety and digital citizenship advice to organizations, families, parents, youth and schools. She believes in the importance of digital literacy education for all. She is dedicated to empowering her clients with the tools needed to embrace digital technologies in meaningful, creative, and positive ways. Denise focuses her discussions on practical ways to both manage and capitalize on technology with internet safety tips, lessons in healthy tech habits, social media strategies and digital reputation management. Click here to register

Start decorating! The Maverick Club is hosting a student Gingerbread House decorating contest. There are 5 categories and there will be a gift card winner for each one: 

1. Neon/Festive/Colorful/Creative: go crazy with candy & frosting!
2. Sports or Games: show your team colors or represent a favorite game (ex. Chess-themed house, Rubik’s cube house)
3. Book/TV/Movie: pick a scene or a whole theme
4. Maximum Holiday: any holiday for the house! (ex. Hanukkah house, July 4 house, Halloween house, Santa’s house)
5. Teamwork: work with sibling(s) or friend(s) to make a coordinated theme—send in your photos together if you are working remotely.

RGS 8th-graders are invited to participate and will be judged within their own category.

Purchase a pre-made kit or make your own. The contest ends on December 17 and the winners will be announced on December 18. Send in photos to the student instagram @riverdalemavsspirit or rhsmavsyearbook@gmail.com

Building Resiliency & Instilling Self-Confidence 
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 Noon – 1:00 p.m.
featuring  Wanda Scott

More than ever before, young people live in an almost constant state of stress brought on by a combination of lack of sleep, heightened expectations, and over-exposure to endless stimuli from every direction. Turn challenges into success with skill and strategy for your children.  Learn how to help kids thrive and operate at full capacity.  Our presenters bolster your own resiliency and teach how to role model the skills needed not just to survive the brutal reality of gossip, ratings, likes and posts; but to thrive and rise above.

Wanda L. Scott is a former college professor and an accomplished author of multiple books.

Order Minted Holiday Cards and Support Riverdale!

Use code FUNDRAISERIVERDALE 

Check a task off your To-Do list and help raise funds for Riverdale at the same time.  Order your holiday cards from Minted and you will save 20% off your purchase and Minted will donate 15% to the Riverdale PTC.

At Minted, you’ll find the perfect holiday card format to suit your style with their unique designs, which are freshly sourced from independent artists through curated competitions.  Check out THE 2019 MINTED HOLIDAY CARD GUIDE to view all the options.