LEARNING ACADEMY.

Cultivating confident, creative and compassionate leaders

KairosPDX
4915 N. Gantenbein Avenue
Portland, OR 97217
Phone: 503.567.9820

ENROLLMENT

If you are interested in your child attending KairosPDX Learning Academy Public Charter School, please contact: charter@kairospdx.org

K-5 Elementary School .

Kairos is Greek... for a special moment in time and we believe we are creating this time and space for children and families, making our Learning Academy a very special place. We believe that attacking systemic racism is essential to achieving our mission and we are passionate about being voices for change in our city. Families and staff collaborate as we work together on behalf of our children and families. We support the whole child: academically, socially, emotionally and culturally.

KairosPDX Learning Academy Public Charter School utilizes culturally responsive practices to cultivate full student engagement. We have grown every year since inception and currently serve 280 students. We practice a combination of direct instruction and inquiry based experiences towards maximizing learning for all students. We infuse mindfulness and restorative practices towards teaching the whole child, at all points of the day.

KairosPDX is housed in the former Humboldt Elementary building. The school building once taught many of our students’ parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles. It serves as one of the lasting fixtures in a neighborhood where gentrification is visibly impacting the surrounding area.

Charter Schools are public schools that are intended to provide innovative programs with specific educational philosophies. KairosPDX Learning Academy focuses on closing achievement and opportunity gaps for children of color.

Charter school students are also PPS students. KairosPDX teachers are responsible for covering the Common Core and our students participate in all district wide assessments towards informing our instruction.

Our Model

Rehumanization of children through a model grounded in the neuroscience of love, demonstrationg data informed, anti-racist, resiliency-based and culturally affirming education.

Fast Facts:

Opened in 2014
Serving grades K-5
Extended school year
STEM, ARTS, PE, PLAY
Emphasis on family partnership
Intentional cultural identity development
Uniform dress code

Kairos Love rests on two values based stances regarding our work with children.

I care about you too much to hurt you with my words or my body therefore I will do my own work to ensure I do not shame or threaten you.

I am committed to your long-term success academically, socially, emotionally and culturally therefore I will do my own work to ensure I set high expectations, communicate clearly to you my belief in your abilities, reflect back to you your current strengths, cultivate habits for success, develop your identity as an independent learner, center our relationship, notice and address lagging skills, seek to understand who you are culturally and intentionally create congruence between your academic and racial identities.

Community Action Sessions (CAS): CAS was created based on the belief that high-quality extracurricular education should be accessible to all students, regardless of race, gender and socioeconomic status. CAS invites community partners to create direct access to rich and diverse learning in the areas of: Service Learning, STEM, Health & Wellness and Arts & Culture. CAS fosters the planting of seeds of optimism and curiosity in our students.

We interweave CAS sessions into our Wednesday schedule, enabling our students to participate in new and exciting learning opportunities, such as ceramics, drone design, and film-making. CAS also serves as a meaningful way for our community partners to engage with our students and share real world expertise.

Part of the KairosPDX Learning Academy, the KairosPDX reflection room focuses on the wellness of children and supporting their social/emotional growth. Currently this team supports students in by effectively providing check-ins/bucket fills, mindfulness strategies, as well as de-escalation, redirection and conflict resolution strategies aimed at enabling our KairosPDX leaders to adopt life skills as they grow.

We honor the importance of nutrition to lifetime wellbeing. KairosPDX is working to provide exposure and consistent access to healthy foods for both children and families. Planting and harvesting in our community garden helps children grow an appreciation for the source and variety of produce available to them. Garden experiences connect children and families with food sources, healthy recipes, and environmental stewardship.

The KairosPDX Difference

KairosPDX is built on the neuroscience of love and belonging. It prioritizes these things in all of our work:

Anti-Racism

Resilience Cultivation

Rehumanization

Culturally-Affirming Blackness

Education

Our Wellness Policy

KairosPDX Learning Academy Public Charter School is committed to the optimal development of every student. Kairos believes that for students to have the opportunity to achieve personal, academic, developmental, and social success, we need to create positive, safe, and health-promoting learning environments at every level, in every setting, throughout the school year. To review our full wellness policy, please click here: KairosPDX Wellness Policy.

KairosPDX Family Council.

Purpose of the Organization

KairosPDX Learning Academy Public Charter School KairosPDX Family Council (KFC) intends to bridge the gap between families, leadership, and staff for families to work to strengthen the school community of KairosPDX by providing resources in community, playgroups, conversations, and connections to support equitable education for all students. All KairosPDX families are invited to join and contribute their lived experience, knowledge, and skills to support the learning community.

Two Co-chairs will support and facilitate the KFC teams including but not limited to: Communications, Advocacy & Teacher Support, Finance & Fundraising, and Enrichments & Connections. A Steering Committee will consist of a minimum of 1 person, an elected member from each committee team, and the Co-chairs. KairosPDX’s Family Connections Coordinator/Organizer will join it on the Steering Committee as a de facto member to provide connection and reflection between the KairosPDX Family Council and KairosPDX. (see table below)

Approved recommendations from the Steering Committee will be presented to KairosPDX Leadership Team and Governing Board as outlined in the Family Handbook for final approval. Contact KairosPDX Family Council at familycouncil@kairospdx.org.

Downloadable Brochures

Student Vaccination Rates

Student Investment Account Plan

Signed into law May 2020, The Student Success Act is a historic opportunity for Oregon Schools. When fully implemented, this Act will invest approximately $2 billion for early learning and K-12 education, with close to $500 million going directly to districts and eligible charter schools through the Student Investment Account (SIA). The student investment account is a non-competitive grant that focuses on five key areas:

Reducing Academic Disparities
Meeting students’ mental and behavioral needs
Providing access to academic courses
Allowing teachers and staff sufficient time to collaborate, review data, and develop strategies to help students stay on track
Establishing and strengthening partnerships

Thanks to the collaboration, input and support of our KairosPDX families, we were able to identify three priority areas which were used to craft our initial plan & executed contract:

A need for mental/behavioral health supports.
A need for teacher collaboration time and innovative assessment specific to mathematics.
A need for culturally relevant curriculum and enrichment opportunities.

Our Annual Report for 2020-2021 can be found here and for 2021-2022 can be found here.

Our 2023-2025 submitted plan can be found here, our three priority areas in this plan are:

Increased attention to students’ mental and behavioral health needs
Increased sense of identity due to access to inquiry and literacy work
Increased sense of cultural identity through access to identity and culturally responsive programming

School-Level Communicable Diseases Management Plan For School Year 2023-2024

KairosPDX is operating an Onsite Learning Model. Review our School-Level Communicable Diseases Management Plan for School Year 2023-2024 here: School-Level Communicable Diseases Plan for School Year 2023-2024

ODE Safe Return IN-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan 2021-2022

Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan KairosPDX8.10.21 KairosPDX.Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan 8.10.21 is operating an Onsite Learning Model.

Getting to know Kairos Love.

Our mission is to eliminate the prolific racial achievement and opportunity gaps by cultivating confident, creative, compassionate leaders. We are different on purpose.

Cultivating confidence

You will hear us call our students leaders. We want to surround them with language that reminds them who they are. We value giving students feedback when they are meeting expectations because we believe students do best when we are patient, kind and clear. We believe students do best when they know we see them as capable and use words to build them up.

You will see us combine structure like: lines in the hallway, hugs and bubbles, expected behavior agreements and high expectations for engagement with freedom like: collaborative conversations with children about how they are feeling, problem solving with students to address behavior and play time during the school day. We are helping children become independent learners. We know children need chances to make choices, make mistakes (that’s how you learn) and take responsibility for their actions. Neuroscience shows us that practice with choices leads to academic success.

Cultivating creativity

You will see children playing during many parts of the day. You will see your leader using paint, markers, clay, blocks and all kinds of things to practice telling stories and explaining how they think. We know this is how you strengthen their ability and use their imagination to lead.

You will see us problem solving with children. Creativity is a muscle that gets stronger with practice. We ask them to repair with their friends and think about solutions when they are reflecting on an unexpected behavior. You will see us bending to their eye level to show our respect. These are skills they will need not just today but into their future. We ask children what they think and we listen.

Cultivating compassion

You will see us model kind words. You will see us modeling repairs by apologizing to children and each other when we have made mistakes. You will see us helping children learn to share their heart and be honest about how they feel and what has happened. You will see us helping students respond to others who are having a hard time with empathy rather than judgement.. We have all felt frustrated, sad, lonely, hurt or embarrassed. Teaching the zones of regulation help children know that all the emotions happen to everyone. We teach children to breath and regulate themselves so they can make choices to reach their goals.

We love our Kairos leaders and believe that love is the strongest thing on earth. We are honest and expect their honesty. We are patient since we too have made mistakes. We hold them accountable to reflect and repair if they have caused harm. We teach them to understand what their brain needs to grow. We know that every child wants to do well and make you proud.

KairosPDX does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, marital status sexual orientation, religion, disability, or age in its programs and activities.

Students or families who believe they have been discriminated against or harassed based on any of the characteristics listed above may file a complaint with our Title IX Coordinator who has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies.

Our Title IX Coordinator can be reached via email at titleix@kairospdx.org.

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