ACCESS Academy Alternative ProgramSchool News & Announcements
Welcome to ACCESS Academy!
The application process for 2013-14 is now closed and we are no longer accepting applications. Applications are accepted each year between January and March.
Attention New Families Regarding 2013-14 Registration: If your child is currently enrolled in Portland Public Schools, nothing further is needed from you at this time. If your child is not currently enrolled in a Portland Public School, please email Trish at thendry@pps.net for registration information.
Please review Mr. Logan’s memo from the district outlining a two year plan for future enrollment at ACCESS. Please note that this plan takes into consideration that Rose City Park will be a shared site and more information about who will be sharing the building will be determined as the district starts their all-district enrollment and balancing discussions. We are looking forward to continuing our work with the district as we partner together to support both the vision for ACCESS and the district goals and priorities for all Portland Public School students. Thank you for your continued enthusiasm and commitment and I am excited for the 2013-14 school year.
Due to the overwhelming call and email volume and our need to serve our current students’ needs, we cannot answer each communication regarding waitlist and inquiries regarding status. We had 190 applicants for the 2013-2014 school year and we were able to offer 80 students placement. As per our expectation, we had more openings at the 3rdgrade and the 6thgrade than any other grade. We had 67 applicants for the 1/2 class and were able to accept 11 students. We had 49 for 3rdgrade and were able to accept 33 students. We had 12 applicants for 4thgrade and were able to accept 10. We had zero openings at the 5thgrade for the 15 applicants. We had 28 applicants for the 6thgrade and were able to accept 19. We accepted all 7thand 8thgrade applicants. We have offered waitlist spots to all qualified applicants and will not know how many will accept waitlist status until later this spring. We carefully considered every applicant according to the 99% criteria and also according to the qualifications determined by our alternative program status. Those qualifications are found here: http://www.pps.k12.or.us/departments/education-options/677.htm
Every child who applied received the careful consideration of a team of five staff members from ACCESS and we weighed all evidence in the application and also made further inquiries if needed. Please understand that we will pull all applicants and reconsider if we are to have an opening and you will be notified immediately if that is the case. Please continue to work with your neighborhood school and principal to meet your students’ needs in Portland Public Schools. We are looking forward to our move to Rose City Park and really appreciate your support of our program and our students.
Unfortunately, we were unable to accept out-of-district applicants due to space constraints.
Eryn Bagby, Administrator (ebagby@pps.net)
ACCESS Academy
Commonly asked questions about the move:
1. What are next year’s bus routes? We are currently working with transportation to identify what our new bus routes are going to be. We will try to keep them somewhat the same, but will be looking at our families to see if any changes are warranted. We will have a bus stop at Sabin both morning and afternoon for now and other stops will be posted as we determine.
2. Do you have after school care? We will not have day care at Rose City Park. Day care is offered both mornings and afternoons at Sabin through their Peninsula program. We will have after school clubs and more information about that will be forthcoming as we get closer to the new school year.
3. What are the specials for the lower grades? Lower grades will receive Art, Wellness/PE, Spanish, Library/Technology once a week. In addition, each lower grade class will receive guidance lessons from our full-time counselor.
4. Our middle school students will have Spanish, Leadership, and Wellness/PE. Spanish and Wellness will be every day and Leadership will be on a rotation.
5. In addition to our specials, we do have a parent volunteer teaching choir.
6. We will have a new computer lab at Rose City Park. In addition we have a laptop cart and Ipads for classes to utilize.
7. We will have a part-time certified librarian at Rose City park who will teach library and technology to the lower grades.
8. School hours will be 8:30-3:00. We will provide more details about drop off and pick up as we get closer to the year.
9. We will have cafeteria services at the new site.
10. Supply lists will be posted soon. We are working with teachers to get those updated.
TAG Information
For further information about testing and identification, please see the TAG website.
Class of 2013 Publish "Legacies"
The ACCESS Academy 8th grade class published a compilation of their short stories! You can buy "Legacies" now or learn more at www.bookpdx.com. All proceeds benefit ACCESS Academy!
A Message from the Principal
To get a glimpse of what happens at ACCESS Academy, click here to watch a slideshow of our students..
The ACCESS Academy’s mission is to create and sustain a learning environment where gifted children thrive socially, emotionally and academically and have the opportunity to reach their full potential.
ACCESS strives to encourage the development of the whole student. The program supports the intellectual as well as the personal growth of gifted students by providing high level instruction that recognizes different learning styles and talents within a nurturing peer environment.
ACCESS admits Talented and Gifted students who score in the 99th percentile level on nationally-normed tests for aptitude and/or achievement in any or all of the following areas: reading, math, or intellectual ability.
The program is suitable for students who have exceeded all or most benchmarks. In addition, ACCESS serves the needs of students who have a high degree of asynchrony between subjects, as well as have social, emotional and/or behavioral issues. Both the abilities and needs of the candidate are considered during the application process.
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The rebuilding of Roosevelt High School begins today, as students, staff and members of the public who form the Roosevelt Design Advisory Group (DAG) begin meeting to advise Portland Public Schools staff on how to incorporate community input into Roosevelt High School’s design and full modernization.
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