During this season of sharing we hope you will remember to bring much needed non-perishable, teen-friendly food items for the Holiday Food Drive to support Cleveland students in need during the holidays and throughout the school year.

Donation barrels will be stationed at the entrance to the CHS auditorium. For more information about how you can help students in need this winter and throughout the school year, please contact CHS social worker Kate Allen at kallen1@pps.net.

Our Jazz Ensemble took part in the city-wide PIL Jazz Festival at Roosevelt High School last Thursday and took the second place title. Bravo!

The Jazz Ensemble will be travelling to Roosevelt HS on Thursday, December 5 to participate in the PIL League Jazz Band Festival. This is an adjudicated event, with the top band receiving an automatic bid to perform at the State Jazz Band Championships in April of 2020.  Cleveland is scheduled to perform at 2:00 pm.

PIL Jazz Festival – Letter & Itinerary can be found in the Docs & Forms section of the band website under Permission Slips.

We will have a short mandatory trip meeting December 10th at 6:00 pm (before the Winter Concert) for Disney Trip participants and their parents. You will be able to meet your chaperone and get a few more details about the trip.

Chinook Book funds and pie sale funds that were raised this fall (and last spring) have been credited to your trip account. Your balance should be up to date. If you’d like to know what you raised from the fall pie fundraiser, please contact Jennifer Means at jennmeans@gmail.com. If you have any other questions, please contact the trip company directly at kris@educationaldiscoverytours.com

Trip volunteer needed to drive U-haul of marching uniforms and instruments to LA. Please contact FOCB Volunteer Coordinator for details jennmeans@gmail.com

The winter concert is one of our most popular events of the year, and for good reasons. The desserts are irresistible and 100% of the proceeds go to support the band program. We hope you will join us in making this our most festive (and delicious) winter concert yet!

Please go to our BAKE SALE SIGN UP or contact Heidi Guite at nguite@aol.com directly to volunteer to bring goodies and/or to help set up, work the tables during intermission, help clean up afterwards, or for any questions and/or help signing up.

(Please note: Signup.com will ask you to enter your email address in order to send you an automated confirmation and event reminders, but does not require you to open an account. SignUp.com does not share your email address with anyone.)

The holidays are a time of celebration and good cheer. But for students whose families struggle with food insecurity, this time of year can be especially difficult. For the past three years the CHS Band Program has partnered with Cleveland High School social worker, Kate Allen, to gather donations for the CHS Mobile Food Pantry to ensure that every student has access to nutritious food to carry them through this challenging time of year.

We encourage every family who will be attending the winter concert to bring donations of non-perishable canned and boxed food items to the winter concert to donate to this vital program. Teen-friendly items such as peanut butter, canned soup, boxed mac ‘n’ cheese and the like are particularly requested. Food collection barrels will be at the entrances of the auditorium for your donations.

Please note that donations of food and gift cards that can be redeemed for socks and warm clothing (of particular need during the winter months) are accepted throughout the school year. For information about how you can help out with this incredibly important program please contact Kate Allen at kallen1@pps.net.

Please note that Mr. Riler is in Seattle for the WIBC conference and will not be available for parent-teacher conferences today, Monday November 25. He will be available for conferences on Tuesday early morning 8:00–10:00 am, afternoon, and evening until 8:00 pm Please plan on meeting with him during these times on Tuesday. Thank you for your understanding.

I would like to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all of our band families. I am very grateful for all of the support I receive from all of you. It is a joy to work with your children every day, as they continue to amaze me and make me so proud be their band director. Your support of your students, and my vision for them, has helped me transform this program into what it is, and what it will continue to become.

Musically Yours,
Gary Riler

The CHS Jazz Ensemble will be traveling to our two feeder schools to share our programs with the middle school students at Hosford and Sellwood. Please see our docs and forms page for the itinerary, parent letter, and permission slip.

Please note that Mr. Riler will not be available for parent-teacher conferences on Monday November 25 nor the morning of Tuesday, November 26. Please plan on meeting with him during the afternoon or evening on Tuesday. Between WIBC in Seattle and his own parental responsibilities to attend conferences, his schedule is very tight. Thank you for understanding.